UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


A   HISTORY  OF 
THE   UNITED  STATES  NAVY 

VOLUME  II 


8499 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES  NAVY 

FROM  1775  TO  1901 


BY 

EDGAR  STANTON   MACLAY,  A.M. 

AUTHOR  OF   A   HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN   PRIVATEERS 

REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  OLD   NAVY 

EDITOR    OF     THE    JOURNAL    OF    WILLIAM     MACLAY 

(U.  S.  Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  1789-1791) 

WITH  TECHNICAL  REVISION   BY 
LIEUTENANT  ROY  CAMPBELL  SMITH,  U.  S.  N. 


NEW   AND    ENLARGED    EDITION 

IN   THREE   VOLUMES 
VOL.    II 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 
1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  1898,'  1901, 
BY   D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY. 


ELECTROTYPED  AND  PRINTED 
AT  THE  APPLETON  PRESS,  U.  S.  A. 


May,  1901. 


NOTE   TO  VOLUME   II    OF   THE    EDITION 

OF   1898. 


IN  the  present  edition  of  this  work  the  second  volume 
has  undergone  important  changes.  Some  new  chapters 
have  been  added,  among  them,  Attack  on  the  Wyo- 
ming, Cruising  against  Slavers,  and  Sea  Power  in  the 
Civil  War.  Many  items  of  minor  importance  have 
been  incorporated  in  the  text,  and  some  of  the  first 
accounts  of  naval  occurrences  have  been  elaborated. 

The  author  realizes  that  the  history  of  our  navy  is 
a  subject  of  vast  and  rapidly  increasing  importance  in 
the  estimation  of  the  American  people,  and  he  would 
be  glad  to  receive  any  additional  suggestions  or  items 
of  interest  bearing  on  it,  so  that  they  may  be  used  in 
future  editions.  Our  navy  is  pre-eminently  a  growing 
navy,  and  a  comprehensive  record  of  it  must  neces- 
sarily keep  pace  with  its  growth. 

E.  S.  M. 

OLD   FIELD   POINT, 

SETAUKET,  LONG  ISLAND,  N.  Y., 

May  1,  1S98. 

v 


450386 


CONTENTS. 


PART  FOURTH. 

MINOR   WARS  AND  EXPEDITIONS— 1815-1861. 
CHAPTER  I. 

WAR  WITH   ALGIERS. 

PAOE 

England's  Mediterranean  policy— Hostility  of  Algiers— Two  squadrons 
sail  for  the  Mediterranean— Defenses  of  Algiers— Capture  of  the 
Mashouda  and  the  Estido — Decatur  brings  the  Dey  to  terms — 
Off  Tripoli  and  Tunis— Sad  loss  of  the  £pervier—0.  H.  Perry  be- 
fore Algiers— Our  cruisers  in  the  Mediterranean  .  .  .  3-22 

CHAPTER   II. 

SUPPRESSION   OF   PIRACY. 

Growth  of  piracy — Death  of  0.  H.  Perry — Active  operations  against  the 
pirates — Death  of  Lieutenant  Allen — Attack  on  the  Fox — Young 
Farragut's  account — Capturing  piratical  craft — The  Foxardo 
affair— Cutting  out  the  Federal— Tattnall  off  Matamoras — The 
Greek  pirates— Our  war  ships  at  Naples 23-43 

CHAPTER  III. 

QUALLA   BATTOO. 

Treacherous  attack  on  the  Friendship — Murder  of  her  crew — Her 
recapture  —  The  Potomac  on  the  scene  —  Capture  of  Qualla 
Battoo 44-61 

CHAPTER  IV. 

CRUISING   AGAINST  SLAVERS. 

Audacity  of  slavers — Experience  of  the  Contest — Important  capture 
by  the  Cyane — M.  C.  Perry's  experience  with  King  Crack  0 — The 

Louisa  Beaton— The  Chatsworth 62-71 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

CONQUEST   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Captain  Thomas  ap  C.  Jones  occupies  Monterey— Arrival  of  a  British 


PAGE 


squadron — Capture  of  Los  Angeles — Loss  and  recapture  of  that 
town— Battle  of  San  Gabriel— Battle  of  Mesa         .        .        .      72-87 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  THE  GULF   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Gallant  boat  service— Capture  of  Guaymas  and  Mazatlan— Heroic  de- 
fense of  the  mission  house— The  relief  of  Heywood  .  .  88-98 

CHAPTER  VII. 

WAR  IN  THE   MEXICAN   GULF. 

First  failures— Capture  of  Frontera  and  Tabasco— At  Tampico— Cut- 
ting out  the  Creole— Dangers  of  the  climate — Bombardment  and 
capture  of  Vera  Cruz— Second  attack  on  Tabasco  .  .  .  99-118 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   EXPEDITION   TO  JAPAN. 

First  attempts  to  open  up  Japan — Congress  determines  on  a  final  at- 
tempt— M.  C.  Perry  selected  to  command  the  expedition — Arrival 
in  Japanese  waters — Perry's  splendid  diplomacy — The  President's 
letter  delivered — Second  visit  of  the  American  squadron — Success 
of  the  expedition 119-132 

CHAPTER  IX. 

SCIENTIFIC  AND   EXPLORING   EXPEDITIONS. 

The  Wilkes  expedition — In  seas  of  ice— A  narrow  escape— Cruising 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean— On  the  coast  of  California— The  Dead  Sea 
expedition— Search  for  the  Sir  John  Franklin  explorers— In  the 
Frozen  North 133-150 

CHAPTER  X. 

MINOR   OCCURRENCES. 

Tragedy  in  the  Somers— The  St.  Louis  and  the  Hussar— At  the  Bar- 
rier Forts— "Blood  thicker  than  water  "—Attack  on  Formosa- 
Trouble  with  Paraguay 151-156 


'CONTENTS.  kt 

PART  FIFTH. 

THE  CIVIL   WAR— 1861-1865. 
CHAPTER  I. 

BEGINNING   OF   HOSTILITIES. 

FAQB 

Condition  of  the  navy — Firing  on  Suinter — Rescue  of  the  Constitution 
— Patrolling  the  Potomac — Capture  of  the  Judah— The  Trent 
affair — Cutting  out  the  Royal  Yacht — The  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut — Affair  of  the  Jamestown 159-174 

CHAPTER  II. 

HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL. 

Defenses  of  Hatteras  Inlet — Bombardment  of  Forts  Hatteras  and 
Clark— Race  on  Hatteras  Island— Loss  of  the  Fanny— The  Port 
Royal  fleet — Off  Port  Royal— Dupont's  plan  of  battle— Surrender 
of  the  enemy 175-197 

CHAPTER  III. 

PAMLICO   AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS. 

Defenses  of  Roanoke  Island — The  national  fleet — Capture  of  Roanoke 
Island — Fight  between  the  gunboats — Capture  of  New  Berne — 
Bombardment  of  Fort  Macon — Lieutenant  Cushing's  narrow  es- 
cape   198-217 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   MERRIMAC   IN   HAMPTON  ROADS. 

Burning  of  Norfolk  navy  yard— Rebuilding  the  Merrimae — The  Con- 
federate squadron  enters  the  Roads — Sinking  the  Cumberland — 
The  Congress  on  fire — Grounding  of  the  Minnesota — Gloom  in 
the  North 218-235 

CHAPTER  V. 

BUILDING   THE   MONITOR. 

First  ideas  about  the  Monitor — Grave  doubts  about  her  worth — Im- 
aginary and  real  objections  to  the  Monitor  system — Origin  of  the 
name  "  Monitor  "—Compared  with  the  Constitution  .  .  236-243 

CHAPTER  VI. 

IRON   VERSUS   IRON. 

The  Monitor  nearly  founders — Arrival  in  Hampton  Roads — Battle  be- 
tween the  two  ironclads — Ramming  attempted — Worden  disabled 
— Victory  for  the  Monitor — Fate  of  the  ironclads— Preparing  for 
the  second  attack  by  the  Merrimae— Loss  of  the  Monitor  .  244-266 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  VII. 

FORTS   HENRY   AND   DONELSON. 

PAGE 

Building  a  Western  navy— Manning  the  gunboats— Skirmishing  at  Co- 
lumbus—Bombardment of  Fort  Henry— Gallant  fight  of  the  gun- 
boats—A lively  chase  up  the  Tennessee— Walke  attacks  Fort  Don- 
elson— Bombardment  of  the  fort— Its  surrender— The  Tyler  and 
the  Lexington  at  Pittsburg  Landing— Fitch  on  the  Ohio  .  267-290 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ISLAND  NO.   10  AND   MEMPHIS. 

Defenses  of  Island  No.  10— A  night  attack— The  Carondelet  runs  the 
batteries— Battle  of  Fort  Pillow— The  great  fight  at  Memphis— 
The  attack  on  St.  Charles 291-305 

CHAPTER  IX. 

BLOCKADING   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

The  affair  at  the  Head  of  the  Passes— The  New  Orleans  expedition- 
David  Glascoe  Farragut— His  arrival  on  the  scene  of  operations — 
Defenses  of  New  Orleans — The  Confederate  fleet — The  bombard- 
ment by  the  mortar  schooners — Daring  night  expeditions  .  306-324 

CHAPTER  X. 

PASSING   FORTS  JACKSON   AND   ST.   PHILIP. 

A  council  of  war— Farragut's  line  of  battle — The  ships  under  fire- 
Fire  rafts— Great  peril  of  the  flagship— Between  the  forts— The 
ubiquitous  ram  Manassas— Above  the  forts— Fall  of  New  Or- 
leans    325-349 

CHAPTER  XI. 

OPERATION   ON   WESTERN    RIVERS. 

Farragut's  great  task— He  passes  the  Vicksburg  batteries— Walke's 
desperate  battle  with  the  ram  Arkansas — The  Arkansas  runs  the 
gantlet  of  the  national  fleet — Farragut  fights  the  ram  under 
Vicksburg's  guns — Destruction  of  the  ram — The  new  ironclads 
— Attack  on  Arkansas  Post  and  St.  Charles— Loss  of  the  Queen 
of  the  West— Loss  of  the  Indianola— Repulse  at  Fort  Pember- 
ton '. 350-373 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED. 

Farragut  passes  Port  Hudson— Sinking  of  the  Lancaster— Porter 
passes  Vicksburg— Attack  on  Grand  Gulf— River  skirmishing— 
Donaldsonville— The  Red  River  expedition— Bache's  spirited  at- 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

tack — Captain  S.  P.  Lee  in  command— Minor  occurrences  on  the 
Western  rivers 374-386 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING. 

Preparations  of  the  Japanese — Land  and  naval  defenses — Attacks  on 
the  French  and  Dutch — McDougal's  splendid  dash — Complete 
victory  of  the  Americans 387-396 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

OFF  MOBILE  BAY. 

First  action  off  Mobile — Building  the  ironclad  Tennessee — The  Con- 
federate squadron — An  attempted  night  attack— Defenses  of  Mo- 
bile—Farragut's  instructions — On  the  eve  of  the  great  battle,  397-407 

CHAPTER  XV. 

FAERAGUT   PASSES   FORT  MORGAN. 

The  night  before  the  battle— The  great  fleet  under  way — The  Hart- 
ford opens  fire — Lashing  Farragut  to  the  rigging— Sinking  of  the 
Tecumseh— Craven's  nobility— Ensign  Neilds'  gallantry— The 
monitor  Winnebago  in  action — Commander  Thomas  Holdup 
Stevens  in  action — Dreadful  carnage  in  the  Hartford — "  Damn 
the  torpedoes ! " — Confusion  in  the  line — The  Tennessee  in  the 
fight — Ramming  the  Confederate  ironclad — Critical  position  of 
the  Oneida — Heroic  officers 408-435 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

ABOVE   THE   MOBILE    FORTS. 

Chase  of  the  Confederate  gunboats — Jouett  takes  the  Selma — A  lull 
in  the  battle — "  Follow  them  up,  Johnston  !  " — Preparing  for  the 
final  struggle — Buchanan  singles  out  the  Hartford — Ramming 
the  Tennessee — The  monitors  in  close  action — National  ships  in 
collision— Surrender  of  the  Tennessee — Losses  and  injuries- 
Caring  for  the  wounded — Gallant  officers — Attack  on  Fort  Spanish 
—Losses  from  torpedoes 436-456 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

OPERATIONS   OFF   CHARLESTON. 

Raid  of  the  Palmetto  State  and  the  Chicora — First  and  second  at- 
tacks on  Fort  McAllister— The  defenses  of  Charleston— Ironclads 
attack  Charleston— The  Weehawken- Atlanta  fight— Attack  on 
Fort  Wagner — A  boat  expedition  against  Fort  Sumter — Loss  of 
the  Housatonic — Surrender  of  Charleston  ....  457-474 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    RAM   ALBEMARLE. 

Importance  of  the  North  Carolina  sounds— Building  the  Albemarle 
—The  ram's  attack  on  the  Southfield  and  Miami— Battle  between 
the  national  gunboats  and  the  ram— Roe's  splendid  dash— Lieu- 
tenant William  Barker  Gushing— Attempts  to  blow  up  the  ram 
—Cashing'*  daring  attack— Its  complete  success— Capture  of 
Plymouth 475-490 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COAST. 

Difficulties  of  the  blockade— Port  Royal  Island— Patrolling  Southern 
waters— A  reverse  at  Galveston  and  Saline  Pass — In  Virginia 
waters— Fort  Fisher— Capture  of  Wilmington  .  .  .  491-507 

CHAPTER  XX. 

CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS. 

Careers  of  the  Sumter  and  Florida — Maffltt's  daring — Stevens  chases 
the  Florida — Maffitt  arms  his  prizes — Catching  an  Amazon — 
Collins  captures  the  Florida — English  "  neutrality  "—The  Hap- 
pahannock — Career  of  the  Georgia — Narrow  escape  from  burn- 
ing— Her  capture  by  the  Niagara — Great  damage  inflicted  by 
the  Shetiandoah—The  Stonewall  Jackson — Other  Confederate 
cruisers 508-522 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   KEARSARGE-ALABAMA   FIGHT. 

Fitting  out  the  Alabama — Eluding  national  cruisers — The  ffatteras 
sunk  by  the  Alabama — The  Alabama  cruises  in  the  South  At- 
lantic and  in  the  East  Indies — Puts  into  Cherbourg — Compared 
with  the  Kearsarge — Winslow  waits  for  the  Alabama — The 
great  battle — American  gunnery  wins — English  "international" 
law 523-534 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

BLOCKADE   RUNNERS. 

Southern  dependence  on  European  markets— Effectiveness  of  torpedo 
warfare— Confederate  privateering  promptly  checked— Develop- 
ment of  blockade  running — English  ports  the  center — Difficulties 
of  blockade  running—"  Tricks  of  the  trade  " — The  Charlotte  and 
Stag — Chase  of  the  Kate — Some  clever  captures — Breck's  gallant 
exploit — British  naval  officers  as  blockade  runners— English  sym- 
pathy (and  something  more)  for  the  South  ....  535-548 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

SEA  POWEE   IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

PAGE 

Historical  review— Strategetical  importance  of  the  Mississippi  River 
system— Value  of  these  waters  to  Northern  States— If  the  South 
had  sea  power — Navy  indispensable 549-559 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

In  the  Monitor's  turret Frontispiece 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Mediterranean     ....  10 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the  Pacific  Coast       ....  76 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Mexican  Gulf              .        .        .  100 

Map  of  the  United  States 163 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the  Potomac 167 

Albemarle  and  Pamlico  Sounds 179 

Plan  of  the  battle  of  Port  Royal 191 

Dupont's  circle  of  fire Facing  194 

Scene  of  operations  on  Roanoke  Island 199 

Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Hampton  Roads 225 

Raking  the  Congress  at  every  shot Facing  230 

Monitor  and  Merrimac 250 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the  upper  Mississippi       .        .        .  274 

Bombardment  of  Fort  Henry Facing  278 

Ironclads  attack  Fort  Donelson Facing  284 

Island  No.  10 292 

Commander  Walke  runs  the  batteries  at  Island  No.  10        .     Facing  298 

Battle  of  Memphis Facing  302 

Kennon  fires  through  his  own  bow Facing  332 

Farragut's  fleet  passing  the  forts Facing  346 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the  Western  rivers    ....  356 

Map  of  Mobile  Bay Facing  398 

Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay Facing  412 

Farragut's  fleet  going  into  action Facing  418 

Battle  of  Mobile  Bay Facing  440 

At  close  quarters Facing  442 

Diagram  showing  where  the  Tennessee  was  rammed    ....  445 
Deck  plan  of  the  Tennessee  and  her  appearance  after  the 

battle Facing  452 

Map  of  Charleston  Harbor  and  vicinity        ....     Facing  458 


xvi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAOI 


Ironclads  attacking  Fort  Sumter Facing  466 

The  Confederate  ironclad  Atlanta Facing  4G8 

A  typical  ferry  gunboat         .......  Facing  495 

Chasing  a  blockade  runner Facing  508 

The  last  of  the  Alabama Facing  52(5 


PART   FOURTH. 

MINOR   WARS   AND   EXPEDITIONS. 
1815-1861. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WAR   WITH   ALGIERS. 

MENTION  has  been  made  of  England's  Mediterra- 
nean policy,  which  was  to  encourage  the  Barbary 
States  in  piracy,  so  that  by  paying  them  an  annual 
tribute  and  by  the  aid  of  her  fleets  her  commerce  was 
freed  from  molestation  while  that  of  weaker  maritime 
nations  was  constantly  exposed.  In  his  Observations 
on  the  Commerce  of  the  American  States  Lord  Shef- 
field said  :  "The  armed  neutrality  would  be  as  hurtful 
to  the  great  maritime  powers  as  the  Barbary  States  are 
useful.  The  Americans  can  not  protect  themselves 
from  the  latter  ;  they  can  not  pretend  to  a  navy."  A 
fair  interpretation  of  these  diplomatic  words  is  given 
by  Smollett  in  his  history  when  he  says:  "The  exist- 
ence of  Algiers  and  other  predatory  states  which  en- 
tirely subsist  upon  piracy  and  rapine,  petty  states  of 
barbarous  ruffians,  maintained,  as  it  were,  in  the  midst 
of  powerful  nations,  which  they  insult  with  impunity, 
and  of  which  they  exact  an  annual  contribution,  is  a 
flagrant  reproach  upon  Christendom  ;  a  reproach  the 
greater,  as  it  is  founded  upon  a  low,  selfish,  illiberal 
maxim  of  policy."  By  means  of  this  policy  Great 
Britain  secured  a  monopoly  of  the  Mediterranean  car- 
rying trade,  at  that  time  the  most  important  in  the 
world. 

But  England  was  mistaken,  as  she  has  been  on  other 
memorable  occasions,  as  to  the  ability  of  the  United 
States  to  defend  itself.  After  three  years  of  bloody 
war  (1802-1805)  we  subdued  the  Barbary  States  and 
secured  privileges  that  were  denied  to  European  pow- 


4  WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  1812. 

ers,  and  in  a  short  time  the  Yankee  skipper  was  driv- 
ing, "his  diplomatic  cousin  "from  the  mercantile  marts 
of  the  world.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Eng- 
lish merchant  would  look  upon  his  American  rival  with 
any  degree  of  complacency,  and  he  only  awaited  the 
opportunity  to  "knife"  the  dangerous  competitor. 
The  War  of  1812  afforded  this  opportunity.  The 
United  States  needed  all  its  energies  in  the  struggle  for 
independence  on  the  high  seas,  and,  as  the  British 
merchant  rightly  conjectured,  could  not  look  after  its 
interests  in  the  Mediterranean.  Immediately  upon  the 
declaration  of  war  British  emissaries  informed  the  Bar- 
bary  States  that  the  United  States  as  a  maritime  na- 
tion would  be  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  that 
its  commerce  would  be  annihilated,  and  that  England 
would  consent  to  peace  only  upon  the  stipulation  that 
the  United  States  forever  afterward  should  build  no 
ship  of  war  heavier  than  a  frigate.  Stimulated  by  this 
assurance,  and  smarting  under  the  punishment  the 
United  States  had  given  them  in  1805,  the  Barbary 
States  assumed  a  hostile  attitude. 

No  sooner  had  the  Dey  of  Algiers  learned  of  the 
declaration  of  war  than  he  hastened  to  pick  a  quarrel 
with  the  American  consul  at  Algiers,  Tobias  Lear.  He 
suddenly  remembered  that  the  Americans  measured 
time  by  the  sun,  while  the  Moors  reckoned  it  by  the 
moon,  and  peremptorily  demanded  the  difference  in 
tribute,  which  during  the  seventeen  years  the  treaty 
had  existed  amounted  to  about  half  a  year,  or  twenty- 
seven  thousand  dollars,  in  the  Dey's  favor.  In  view  of 
the  war  with  England,  Mr.  Lear  acceded  to  the  Dey's 
extortion  ;  and  that  potentate,  relying  upon  the  assur- 
ance that  the  United  States  navy  would  be  annihilated, 
soon  found  another  pretext  for  dissatisfaction.  He 
complained  that  the  stores  that  were  sent  by  the  United 
States  in  the  sailing  ship  AllegTiany,  in  lieu  of  tribute 
money,  were  of  inferior  quality,  and  on  the  25th  of 
July,  1812,  he  said  that  "the  consul  must  depart  in 


1812.  ALGIERS   MAKES  WAR.  5 

the  AUeghany^  as  he  would  not  have  a  consul  in  his 
regency  who  did  not  cause  everything  to  be  brought 
exactly  as  he  had  ordered."  l  About  this  time  two 
large  ships  laden  with  powder,  shot,  cables,  anchors 
and  naval  stores,  sufficient  to  equip  the  entire  Algerian 
fleet,  arrived  at  Algiers  under  the  escort  of  an  English 
man-of-war — a  present  from  the  British  Government. 

The  Dey  lost  no  time  in  sending  his  corsairs  out 
in  search  of  American  merchant  ships.  Fortunately, 
most  of  our  traders,  on  learning  of  the  probability  of  a 
war  with  Great  Britain,  had  sought  places  of  safety,  so 
that  only  one  vessel,  the  brig  Edwin,  of  Salem,  com- 
manded by  George  Smith,  was  captured.  She  was 
taken  on  the  2,5th  of  August,  1812,  while  running  from 
Malta  to  Gibraltar,  and  her  commander  and  crew,  ten 
in  all,  were  sold  into  slavery.  The  Dey's  buccaneers, 
in  their  eagerness  to  enslave  Americans,  even  boarded 
a  vessel  sailing  under  Spanish  colors,  and  took  from 
her  a  Mr.  Pollard,  of  Virginia,  and  held  him  in  bond- 
age also.  Tripoli  and  Tunis,  on  the  assurance  of  British 
agents  that  the  United  States  navy  would  be  swept 
from  the  seas  in  less  than  six  months,  allowed  four 
prizes  of  the  American  privateer  Abellino,  which  had 
been  sent  into  their  ports,  to  be  recaptured  by  British 
cruisers.  Our  little  navy  was  so  occupied  with  its  fight 
against  the  mistress  of  the  ocean  that  these  outrages 
could  not  be  attended  to  immediately,  but  the  Govern- 
ment secretly  sent  an  agent  to  Spain  to  act  in  behalf  of 
the  friends  of  the  captives  and  offered  a  ransom  of  three 
thousand  dollars  for  each  of  them.  The  Dey  rejected 
the  offer,  and  defiantly  expressed  his  determination  of 
increasing  the  number  of  captives  before  entering  upon 
negotiations. 

English  predictions  relative  to  the  United  States, 
from  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  to  the  present  day,  have  been  • 
an  almost  unbroken  list  of  disappointments.     The  case 

1  Mr.  Lear's  report  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  July  29,  1812. 


Q  WAR  WITH   ALGIERS.  1815. 

in  hand  is  one  of  them.  When  the  British  agent  in- 
formed the  Dey  of  Algiers  that  "the  American  flag 
would  be  swept  from  the  seas,  the  contemptible  navy 
of  the  United  States  annihilated  and  its  maritime  arse- 
nals reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins,"  he  had,  apparently, 
good  grounds  for  that  belief.  That  a  navy  of  seven- 
teen efficient  vessels,  mounting  fewer  than  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  guns,  could  exist  in  the  face  of  a  thou- 
sand war  ships  carrying  nearly  twenty-eight  thousand 
guns,  was  indeed  one  of  the  marvels  of  naval  history. 
But  at  the  close  of  that  struggle  the  United  States  navy 
had  been  increased  to  sixty-four  vessels,  mounting 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  guns,  while  the  officers  and 
crews  had  been  trained  in  the  severe  school  of  war, 
and  had  developed  into  as  fine  a  naval  personnel  as 
ever  sailed  the  sea,  They  had  humiliated  the  haugh- 
tiest flag  on  the  ocean  with  overwhelming  disasters, 
and,  flushed  with  victory  and  confident  in  their  prow- 
ess, they  were  just  in  the  humor  for  chastising  the 
insolent  Turks  of  Algiers. 

Five  days  after  the  treaty  with  England  had  been 
proclaimed,  or  February  23,  1815,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  recommended  that  war  be  declared 
against  Algiers.  Two  squadrons  under  the  orders  of 
Captain  William  Bainbridge  were  detailed  on  this  serv- 
ice, the  first  assembling  at  Boston,  and  the  second, 
commanded  by  Captain  Stephen  Decatur,  at  New 
York.  It  was  a  striking  proof  of  the  confidence  the 
Government  had  in  Captain  Decatur,  and  how  little  it 
held  him  accountable  for  the  loss  of  the  President, 
that  he  was  placed  in  this  important  command  while 
the  court-martial  was  still  investigating  the  capture  of 
his  ship. 

The  squadron  collected  at  New  York  was  the  first 
to  get  under  way,  sailing  May  20th,  and  having  on 
board  William  Shaler,  consul  general  to  the  Barbary 
States,  who,  with  Captains  Bainbridge  and  Decatur,  had 
lull  power  to  wage  war  or  negotiate  peace.  The  New 


1815.  DEFENSES  OF  ALGIERS.  7 

York  squadron  consisted  of  the  44-gun  frigate  Guer- 
riere,  Captain  Stephen  Decatur;  the  38-gun  frigate 
Macedonian,  Captain  Jacob  Jones ;  the  36-gun  frigate 
Constellation,  Captain  Charles  Gordon ;  the  18-gun 
sloop  of  war  fipermer,  Master -Commandant  John 
Downes  ;  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Ontario,  Master- 
Commandant  Jesse  D.  Elliott ;  the  12-gun  brig  Fire- 
fly, Lieutenant  George  W.  Rodgers ;  the  12-gun  brig 
Flambeau,  Lieutenant  John  B.  Nicholson ;  the  12-gun 
brig  Spark,  Lieutnant  Gamble;  the  10-gun  schooner 
Spitfire,  Lieutenant  A.  J.  Dallas ;  and  the  10-gun 
schooner  Torch,  Lieutenant  Wolcott  Chauncey ;  total, 
ten  vessels,  mounting  two  hundred  and  ten  guns.  At 
the  request  of  Captain  Decatur,  all  the  surviving  offi- 
cers and  men  who  had  served  under  him  in  the  Chesa- 
peake, the  United  States  and  the  President  were  per- 
mitted to  sail  in  the  Guerriere,  and  nearly  all  availed 
themselves  of  the  opportunity. 

It  was  no  contemptible  foe  that  the  American  fleet 
was  directed  against.  The  Algerian  navy  alone  con- 
sisted of  five  frigates,  six  sloops  of  war,  and  one 
schooner ;  in  all,  twelve  vessels,  carrying  three  hundred 
and  sixty  guns— more  than  fifty  per  cent  stronger  than 
Decatur' s  squadron.  Their  frigates  carried  18-  and  12- 
pounders,  while  their  sloops  were  armed  with  12-,  9- 
and  6-pounders.  Their  vessels  were  well  equipped  and 
manned,  and  their  crews  were  thoroughly  trained  in 
modern  warfare.  The  Algerian  admiral,  Rais  Hammida, 
was  the  terror  of  the  Mediterranean.  He  came  from 
the  fierce  race  of  Kabyle  mountaineers,  who  routed 
with  great  slaughter  the  French  army  under  General 
Trezel,  and  again  defeated  the  French  under  General 
Valee.  Hammida  had  risen  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  place  in  the  Algerian  navy.  It  was  he  who 
captured,  by  boarding  in  broad  daylight,  a  Portuguese 
frigate  within  sight  of  Gibraltar,  and  again,  in  1810, 
with  three  frigates,  boldly  offered  battle  to  a  Portu- 
guese ship  of  the  line  and  three  frigates  off  the  Rock 


WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  1815- 

o 

of   Lisbon.      Soon  afterward  he  captured  a  Tunisian 
frigate,  under  the  command  of  an  admiral,  in  single 

ship  action. 

Comparative  forces. 

American  fleet :  10  vessels,  mounting  210  guns. 
Algerian    fleet :  12  vessels,  mounting  360  guns. 

Besides  this  formidable  naval  force,  the  city  of  Al- 
giers itself  was  strongly  fortified.  It  was  built  on  the 
slope  of  a  hill  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle,  the  base  of 
which,  a  mile  long,  fronted  the  sea,  while  the  sides  rose 
like  a  pyramid,  the  apex  being  crowned  by  the  casbah 
—the  ancient  citadel  of  the  deys-five  hundred  feet 
above  sea  level.  The  harbor,  formed  by  an  artificial 
mole,  was  defended  by  double  and  triple  rows  of  heavy 
batteries,  mounting  two  hundred  and  twenty  guns. 
The  town  was  protected  by  walls  of  immense  thickness 
and  mounted  heavy  guns,  so  that  over  five  hundred 
pieces  of  ordnance  bore  upon  the  maritime  approaches 
of  the  place.  So  strong  were  the  defenses  of  this  city 
that  in  the  following  year  (1816),  when  England  was 
compelled  to  act  against  the  Barbary  States,  five  ships 
of  the  line,  five  frigates,  four  bomb  ketches  and  five 
gun  brigs  were  deemed  by  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty 
too  small  a  force  to  send  against  it,  while  Lord  Nelson, 
in  a  conversation  with  Captain  Brisbane,  mentioned 
twenty-five  ships  of  the  line  as  a  requisite  force.1 

When  a  few  days  out  Decatur's  squadron  encoun- 
tered a  violent  gale,  in  which  the  Firefly  sprung  her 
masts  and  she  was  compelled  to  return  to  port.  After- 
ward she  joined  Captain  Bainbridge's  squadron  and 
went  with  it  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  other  vessels 
of  Decatur's  squadron  continued  on  their  course  for  the 
Azores.  As  the  ships  approached  the  coast  of  Portu- 
gal a  careful  lookout  was  maintained.  Every  sail  was 
spoken  to,  and  every  inquiry  made  that  might  lead  to 
the  discovery  of  the  Algerian  squadron,  which,  it  was 

1  Life  of  Lord  Exmouth,  p.  309. 


1815.  SEARCHING   FOR  THE  ENEMY.  9 

thought,  might  be  cruising  in  the  Atlantic  for  American 
merchantmen.  Finding  no  traces  of  the  enemy,  Cap- 
tain Decatur  approached  Cadiz  to  ascertain  if  Rais 
Hammida  had  passed  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  Not 
wishing  to  make  known  the  presence  of  an  American 
naval  force  in  these  waters,  he  did  not  enter  the  port, 
but  communicated  with  our  consul  by  boat.  It  was 
learned  that  an  Algerian  squadron,  consisting  of  three 
frigates  and  several  smaller  vessels,  had  been  cruising 
in  the  Atlantic,  but  it  was  believed  that  it  had  passed 
into  the  Mediterranean.  Still  being  in  doubt  as  to  the 
admiral's  whereabouts,  and  wishing  to  take  him  by 
surprise,  Captain  Decatur  arrived  off  Tangier  June 
15th,  and  from  our  consul  at  that  port  learned  that 
Rais  Hammida  but  two  days  before  had  passed  the 
straits  in  the  46-gun  frigate  Maskouda,  mounting  18- 
and  12-pounders,  and  was  sailing  up  the  Mediterranean 
with  the  intention  of  touching  at  Carthagena.  Satisfied 
that  he  was  on  the  right  track,  Decatur  immediately 
headed  for  Gibraltar,  where  he  anchored  on  the  same 
day  and  learned  that  the  Algerian  ships  had  hove  to 
off  Cape  Gata,  waiting  for  a  tribute  of  half  a  million 
dollars  which  Spain  was  to  pay  for  the  continuation 
of  peace. 

Scarcely  had  the  American  squadron  arrived  at 
Gibraltar  when  a  dispatch  boat  was  observed  getting 
under  way,  and  upon  inquiry  it  was  found  that  it  was 
making  for  Cape  Gata  to  notify  Rais  Hammida  of  the 
presence  of  an  American  squadron.  Soon  afterward 
other  boats  were  seen  making  off  in  the  direction  of  Al- 
giers, evidently  for  the  purpose  of  warning  the  Dey. 
Well  knowing  how  easily  the  Moorish  ships  could 
elude  him  by  running  into  some  neutral  port  should 
they  be  warned  of  their  danger,  Captain  Decatur 
promptly  made  sail  again,  hoping  to  come  upon  the 
admiral  before  the  swift  dispatch  boats  could  reach 
him,  and  with  a  fair  breeze  the  American  ships  stood 
up  the  Mediterranean.  On  the  following  night  (June 


10 


WAR  WITH  ALGIERS. 


1815. 


16th)  the  Macedonian  and  the  brigs  were  sent  in  chase 
of  several  sails  that  were  descried  inshore,  so  that  by 
daylight  the  squadron  had  become  widely  scattered. 
In  the  early  dawn  of  the  17th,  when  the  vessels  were 
nearly  abreast  of  Cape  Gata,  twenty  miles  from  land, 
the  Constellation  discovered  a  large  ship  flying  the 
flag  of  the  grand  admiral,  and  Captain  Gordon  sig- 
naled "  An  enemy  to  the  southeast."  Every  precaution 
was  taken  to  conceal  the  nationality  of  the  American 
ships,  as  the  Algerian  had  several  miles  the  start  and 
was  within  thirty  hours  of  Algiers.  Accordingly  the 
Constellation  was  ordered  back  to  her  position  on  the 
beam  of  the  flagship,  while  the  other  vessels  quietly 
hauled  up  toward  the  unsuspecting  Moor.  The  stranger 
was  soon  made  out  to  be  a  frigate  headed  toward  the 
African  coast,  lying  to  under  her  three  topsails,  with 


Scene  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Mediterranean  in  1815. 

the  maintopsail  to  the  mast,  evidently  waiting  for  some 
communication  from  the  shore.  Master-Commandant 
Lewis  asked  permission  to  make  sail  and  chase,  but 
Decatur  rightly  conjectured  that  the  news  of  his  arrival 
in  the  Mediterranean  had  not  reached  the  Algerian,  so 
he  gave  the  signal,  "Do  nothing  to  excite  suspicion," 
and  continued  to  bear  down  on  the  Moor. 

In  this  manner  the  ships  gradually  drew  near,  care- 
fully concealing  all  signs  of  hostility,  as  it  was  thought 


1815.  IN   FULL  CHASE. 


11 


that  they  would  be  taken  for  a  British  squadron.  While 
they  were  still  a  mile  from  the  chase,  the  Constellation, 
by  some  mistake  of  a  quartermaster,  hoisted  American 
colors.  To  counteract  this  the  Guerriere  and  all  the 
other  vessels  showed  English  flags.  But  the  mischief 
had  been  done.  In  an  instant  the  Moor's  rigging  was 
swarming  with  men,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time 
she  was  under  a  cloud  of  canvas  and  headed  for  Algiers. 
"Quicker  work,"  remarked  a  spectator,  "was  never 
done  by  better  seamen."  The  rigging  of  the  American 
cruisers  was  now  also  alive  with  activity.  Men  were 
running  up  the  shrouds  and  swinging  out  on  the  yards 
from  dizzy  heights  ;  orders  were  shouted  from  the  quar- 
ter-deck to  be  echoed  by  the  shrill  piping  of  the  boat- 
swain's whistle  ;  all  was  hurry  and  seeming  confusion— 
a  startling  contrast  to  the  quiet  that  had  pervaded  the 
squadron  but  a  moment  before.  Soon  the  great  frigates 
were  bowing  under  mountains  of  white  canvas,  the 
noise  and  confusion  had  subsided  as  suddenly  as  it 
arose,  and  the  silence  on  their  decks  was  disturbed  only 
by  the  waves  which,  hurled  back  from  the  bows,  dashed 
themselves  against  the  sides  of  the  ship.  Every  sail 
that  would  hold  the  wind  was  set,  for  Decatur  feared 
that  the  Moor  might  elude  him  in  the  coming  night,  or 
gain  a  neutral  port.  The  Constellation,  being  the  south- 
ernmost ship  in  the  squadron  and  nearest  to  the  enemy, 
soon  opened  fire  at  long  range,  and  several  of  her  shot 
were  seen  to  fall  aboard  the  chase.  Finding  that  he 
could  not  escape  on  this  tack,  the  Moor  suddenly  came 
about  and  headed  northeast,  with  a  view  of  running 
into  Carthagena.  The  pursuing  ships  promptly  fol- 
lowed the  mano3uvre,  and  the  change  brought  the  On- 
tario into  such  a  position  that  she  was  obliged  to  cross 
the  enemy's  course  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant. 
But  the  Guerriere,  passing  between  the  Constellation 
and  the  Epermer,  bore  down  to  close. 

As  the  American  flagship  came  within  range  the 
Turks  opened  fire,  and  the  musketry  soon  became  ef- 


12  WAR  WITH   ALGIERS.  1815. 

fective,  wounding  a  man  at  the  GuerrierJs  wheel  and 
injuring  several  others.  Decatur,  however,  reserved 
his  fire  until  his  ship  just  cleared  the  enemy's  yard- 
arms,  when  he  poured  in  a  full  broadside.  The  havoc 
among  the  Algerians  was  awful.  Their  admiral,  Rais 
Hammida,  who  had  been  wounded  by  a  shot  from  the 
Constellation  and  refused  to  go  below,  and  was  resting 
on  a  couch  on  the  quarter-deck,  animating  his  men, 
was  literally  cut  in  two  by  a  42-pound  shot.  The  Guer- 
riere's  men  coolly  loaded  again,  and  before  the  smoke 
had  cleared  away  they  poured  in  a  second  broadside. 
At  this  second  fire  one  of  her  main-deck  guns  burst, 
shattering  the  spar  deck  above  and  killed  three  men 
and  wounded  seventeen. 

No  signal  of  surrender  had  yet  been  made  by  the 
Turks,  but  a  few  of  their  men  in  the  tops  bravely  re- 
mained at  their  posts  and  continued  the  action  until 
shot  down  by  American  marines.  Not  wishing  to  shed 
blood  unnecessarily,  Decatur  passed  ahead  and  took  a 
position  off  the  enemy's  bow,  where  he  was  out  of  range. 
Availing  themselves  of  this,  the  Mussulmans  put  their 
helm  up  and  endeavored  to  escape.  This  manoeuvre 
placed  the  little  18-gun  brig  Epermer  directly  in  the 
course  of  the  huge  Algerian ;  but,  instead  of  getting  out 
of  the  way,  Master-Commandant  Downes  boldly  opened 
his  puny  broadsides  and  took  a  position  under  the  frig- 
ate's cabin  ports,  so  that  by  skillfully  backing  and  fill- 
ing away  he  avoided  a  collision,  and  at  the  same  time 
poured  in  nine  broadsides,  which  compelled  the  enemy, 
after  a  running  action  of  twenty-five  minutes,  to  sur- 
render. Decatur  afterward  remarked  that  he  had 
never  seen  a  vessel  more  skillfully  handled,  nor  so  heavy 
a  fire  kept  up  from  one  so  small.  The  Guerriere  now 
took  possession,  while  Master-Commandant  Lewis  and 
Midshipmen  Howell  and  Hoffman  wrent  aboard  with 
the  prize  crew.  The  Mashouda  had  been  severely  cut 
up,  and  her  decks  presented  a  dreadful  scene.  Splashes 
of  blood,  fragments  of  the  human  body,  pieces  of  torn 


1815.  CAPTURE  OF  THE  ESTIDO.  13 

clothing  and  the  general  debris  of  battle  were  seen  on 
all  sides.  Thirty  out  of  a  crew  of  four  hundred  and 
thirty-six  men  were  killed  or  wounded,  while  four  hun- 
dred and  six  prisoners  were  taken.  The  Guerriere's  loss 
from  the  enemy's  fire  was"  three  killed  and  eleven 
wounded. 

In  the  afternoon  after  the  capture  Captain  Decatur 
made  a  signal  for  all  the  officers  of  the  squadron  to 
come  aboard  the  flagship.  On  being  conducted  to  his 
cabin  they  found  the  table  covered  with  Turkish  dag- 
gers, scimiters,  yataghans  and  pistols.  Turning  to 
Master-Commandant  Downes,  Captain  Decatur  said  : 
"As  you  were  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  favorable  posi- 
tion and  maintained  it  so  handsomely,  you  shall  have 
the  first  choice  of  these  weapons."  Each  of  the  other 
officers  selected  some  memento  of  the  fight,  in  the  order 
of  their  rank.  The  Mashouda  was  sent  to  Carthagena 
under  the  escort  of  the  Macedonian,  while  the  remain- 
der of  the  squadron,  after  taking  prisoners  aboard,  set 
out  in  search  of  the  other  Algerian  vessels,  which  were 
thought  to  be  in  the  vicinity. 

On  the  19th  of  June,  while  they  were  approaching 
Cape  Palos,  a  suspicious  brig  was  sighted,  and  the 
American  ships  immediately  gave  chase,  while  the 
stranger  made  every  effort  to  get  away.  After  a  hard 
run  of  three  hours  the  brig  suddenly  ran  into  shoal 
water,  where  the  frigates  could  not  follow,  but  the 
Htpervier,  the  Spar  ft,  the  Torch  and  the  Spitfire  con- 
tinued the  pursuit  and  soon  opened  fire.  Upon  this 
the  brig,  still  keeping  up  a  running  fire,  ran  ashore  be- 
tween the  towers  of  Estacio  and  Albufera  (which  had 
been  erected  on  the  coast  for  the  purpose  of  observing 
the  approach  of  Barbary  pirates  in  their  kidnaping 
expeditions),  and  the  Moors  took  to  their  boats,  one  of 
which  was  sunk  by  shot  from  the  pursuing  vessels. 
The  Americans  took  possession  and  secured  eighty- 
three  prisoners.  The  prize  proved  to  be  the  Algerian 
22-gun  brig  Estido,  with  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and 


WAR  WITH   ALGIERS.  l815- 

eighty  men,  twenty-three  of  whom  were  found  dead  on 
Sr  decks     The  prize  was  floated  off  and  sent  with  the 


gerian  vessels  would  make  for  Algiers,  determined  to 
sail  for  that  port  in  the  hope  of  cutting  them  off      A 
council  of  the  officers  was  called,  which  resolved  that 
this  was  the  time  for  securing  a  treaty  with  the  Dey, 
and  it  was  decided  to  blockade  the  squadron  and  bom- 
bard the  town  if  he  failed  to  come  to  terms.     On  the 
28th  of  June  the  squadron  appeared  before  Algiers 
and  on  the  following  morning  the  Guerriere  displayed 
a  white  flag  at  the  fore  and  Swedish  colors  at  the  mam- 
a  signal  for  the  Swedish  consul,  Mr.  Norderling,  to 
come  aboard.     About  noon  the  consul  arrived,  accom- 
panied by  the  Algerian  captain  of  the  port.     Decatur 
asked  the  latter  what  had  become  of  the  Algerian 
squadron,  to  which  the  port  captain  replied,  "By  this 
time  it  is  safe  in  some  neutral  port."     "  Not  the  whole 
of  it,"  responded  Decatur,  "for  we  have  captured  the 
Mashouda  and  the  Estido."    The  Moor  discredited 
the  information,  until  a  lieutenant  of  the  Mashouda, 
emaciated  and  weak  from  his  wounds,  stepped  forward 
and  confirmed  the  news.     Greatly  affected,  and  trem- 
bling for  the  remainder  of  the  squadron,  the  Moor  inti- 
mated that  peace  might  be  negotiated,  and  inquired 
what  terms  were  demanded.     A  letter  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  the  Dey  was  handed  to 
him,  in  which  the  only  conditions  of  peace  were  the 
absolute  relinquishment  of  all  claim  to  tribute  in  the 
future  and  a  guarantee  that  American  commerce  would 
not  be  molested  by  Algerian  corsairs.     The  captain  of 
the  port  suggested  that  the  commissioners  should  land 
according  to  custom,  and  then  enter  upon  the  negoti- 
ations, but  as  his  real  object  was  to  gain  time  this  was 
promptly  rejected,  and  Decatur  insisted  that  the  treaty 
be  negotiated  on  board  the  Guerriere  or  not  at  all.     The 
Moor  then  went  ashore  to  convey  the  news  to  his  master. 


1815.  THE  DEY   BEGS  FOR  TIME.  15 

On  the  following  day,  June  30th,  the  captain  of  the 
port  boarded  the  Guerriere  with  full  powers  to  nego- 
tiate. Decatur  had  determined  to  strike  a  mortal  blow 
at  their  system  of  piracy,  and  he  gave  as  the  only  terms 
that  all  Americans  in  the  possession  of  Algiers  be  given 
up  without  ransom,  all  their  effects  (which  long  since 
had  been  distributed)  be  made  good  in  money,  Chris- 
tians escaping  to  American  vessels  should  not  be  re- 
turned, the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  should  be  paid 
to  the  owners  of  the  Edwin,  and  from  this  time  the  re- 
lations between  the  two  nations  be  precisely  the  same 
as  those  between  all  civilized  nations.  The  Moor  urged 
that  it  was  not  the  present  Dey  who  had  declared  war 
against  the  United  States,  but  Hadji  Ali,  who  for  his 
great  cruelty  had  been  surnamed  the  "  Tiger,"  and 
that  he  had  been  assassinated  March  23d,  and  his  Prime 
Minister,  who  had  succeeded  him,  had  been  murdered 
April  18th ;  that  Omar  Pasha,  the  present  Dey,  who 
for  his  great  courage  had  won  the  title  of  "Omar  the 
Terrible,"  had  no  agency  in  the  war  and  was  not  ac- 
countable for  the  acts  of  his  predecessors.  But  Decatur 
was  inexorable.  The  Algerian  captain  requested  that 
a  truce  might  be  declared  until  he  could  lay  the  terms 
before  the  Dey,  but  this  also  was  denied.  He  then 
asked  for  a  truce  of  three  hours,  but  Decatur  replied : 
"Not  a  minute  !  If  your  squadron  appears  before  the 
treaty  is  actually  signed  by  the  Dey,  and  before  the 
American  prisoners  are  sent  aboard,  I  will  capture  it." 
In  great  trepidation  the  Moor  hastened  ashore,  and  it 
was  understood  that  if  his  boat  was  observed  returning 
to  the  Guerriere  with  a  white  flag  in  the  bow  it  meant 
that  the  Dey  had  acceded  to  the  terms. 

When  he  had  been  absent  about  an  hour  an  Al- 
gerian ship  of  war  was  discovered  approaching  from 
the  east.  It  was  filled  with  Turkish  soldiers  from  Tunis. 
Decatur  promptly  ordered  his  vessels  to  be  cleared  for 
action,  and,  laying  his  Turkish  scimiter  and  pistols  on 
the  capstan  of  the  Guerriere,  he  called  the  men  aft  and 


16  WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  1815. 

addressed  them  in  his  usual  hearty  style.  But  before 
the  vessels  could  fairly  get  underway  the  port  captain's 
boat  was  observed  pulling  energetically  from  the  shore 
with  a  white  flag  in  her  bow.  Somewhat  vexed,  Decatur 
waited  for  it,  and  when  it  was  within  hailing  distance 
asked  if  the  treaty  had  been  signed  and  the  prisoners 
released.  He  was  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  soon 
the  boat  ran  alongside  and  the  captives  were  brought 
aboard.  It  was  a  pitiful  sight  to  see  these  men,  wasted 
and  emaciated  by  their  years  of  bondage,  greeting  their 
fellow-countrymen.  Some  of  them  lovingly  kissed  the 
American  colors,  others  wept  for  joy,  and  some  gave 
thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  the  unexpected  deliverance. 

In  less  than  sixteen  days  from  the  time  the  squadron 
arrived  on  the  scene  of  trouble  a  more  advantageous 
treaty  than  had  ever  been  made  with  a  foreign  power 
had  been  signed  by  the  Dey,  and  all  the  demands  of 
the  American  Government  were  complied  with.  After 
signing  the  treaty  the  Dey's  Prime  Minister  reproach- 
fully said  to  the  British  consul :  "  You  told  us  that  the 
Americans  would  be  swept  from  the  seas  in  six  months 
by  your  navy,  and  now  they  make  war  upon  us  with 
some  of  your  own  vessels  which  they  have  taken."  The 
vessels  referred  to  were  the  Macedonian,  the  fipervier 
and  the  (new)  Guerriere. 

The  iipermer^  Lieutenant  John  Templer  Shubrick, 
was  now  sent  to  the  United  States  with  a  copy  of  the 
treaty  and  the  ten  liberated  captives.  The  little  brig 
passed  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  on  the  12th  of  July  and 
never  was  heard  from  again.  A  vessel  answering  to  her 
description  was  seen  by  the  British  West  India  fleet 
during  a  heavy  gale,  and  as  several  of  the  merchantmen 
foundered  in  that  storm  it  was  thought  possible  that 
the  Bpermer  might  have  been  in  collision  with  some  of 
them.  On  board  the  lost  man-of-war  were  Captain 
Lewis  and  Lieutenant  Neale,  who  had  married  sisters 
on  the  eve  of  their  departure  for  the  Mediterranean  and 
were  now  returning  after  the  successful  termination  of 


1815.  TUNIS  BROUGHT  TO  TERMS.  17 

the  war.  Lieutenant  Yarnell  (who  had  distinguished 
himself  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie)  and  Lieutenant 
Drury  also  were  aboard.  Midshipman  Josiah  Tattnall, 
afterward  commander  of  the  celebrated  Merrimac,  was 
in  the  JSpervier  just  before  she  sailed  on  her  fatal  voy- 
age, but  exchanged  places  with  a  brother  officer  in  the 
Constellation  who  was  desirous  of  returning  home. 

Captain  Decatur  now  gave  his  attention  to  Tunis 
and  Tripoli,  which  regencies  had  allowed  the  prizes  of 
the  American  privateer  AbelUno  to  be  seized  by  British 
cruisers.  These  towns  also  were  strongly  fortified  and 
had  a  considerable  naval  force.  The  American  squad- 
ron anchored  before  Tunis  on  the  26th  of  July,  and 
with  his  usual  promptness  Captain  Decatur  informed 
the  Bey  that  only  twelve  hours  would  be  allowed  him 
in  which  to  pay  forty-six  thousand  dollars  for  allow- 
ing the  seizure  of  the  AbelUno 's  prizes  by  the  British 
cruiser  Lyra.  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  United  States  con- 
sul at  that  place,  who  conveyed  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
to  the  Bey,  describes  the  interview:  "  'Tell  your  ad- 
miral to  come  and  see  me,'  said  the  Bey.  '  He  declines 
coming,  your  Highness,  until  these  disputes  are  settled, 
which  are  best  done  on  board  the  ship.'  'But  this  is 
not  treating  me  writh  becoming  dignity.  Hammuda 
Pasha,  of  blessed  memory,  commanded  them  to  land 
and  wait  at  the  palace  until  he  was  pleased  to  receive 
them.'  'Very  likely,  Your  Highness,  but  that  was 
twenty  years  ago.'  After  a  pause  the  Bey  exclaimed  : 
4 1  know  this  admiral ;  he  is  the  same  one  who,  in  the 
war  with  Sidi  Jusef,  of  Trablis,  burned  the  frigate '  [the 
Philadelphia].  'The  same.'  'Hum!  Why  do  they 
send  wild  young  men  to  treat  for  peace  with  old  pow- 
ers? Then,  you  Americans  do  not  speak  the  truth. 
You  went  to  war  with  England,  a  nation  with  a  great 
fleet,  and  said  you  took  her  frigates  in  equal  fight. 
Honest  people  always  speak  the  truth.'  '  Well,  sir,  and 
that  was  true.  Do  you  see  that  tall  ship  in  the  bay  fly- 
ing a  blue  flag  ?  It  is  the  Guerriere,  taken  from  the  Brit- 

47 


lg  WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  1815. 

ish.  That  one  near  the  small  island,  the  Macedonian, 
was  also  captured  by  Decatur  on  equal  terms.  The 
sloop  near  Cape  Carthage,  the  Peacock,  was  also  taken 
in  battle.'  The  Bey  laid  down  the  telescope,  reposed 
on  his  cushions,  and,  with  a  small  tortoise-shell  comb 
set  with  diamonds,  combed  his  beard.  A  small  vessel 
got  under  way  and  came  near  the  batteries  ;  a  pinnace 
with  a  few  men  rowed  toward  the  harbor,  and  a  man 
dressed  in  the  garb  of  a  sailor  was  taking  soundings. 
It  was  Decatur." 

The  Bey  decided  to  accept  the  terms,  and  afterward 
received  Decatur  with  every  mark  of  respect.  A  brother 
of  the  Prime  Minister  brought  the  money,  and,  turning 
angrily  upon  the  British  consul,  said:  "You  see,  sir, 
what  Tunis  is  obliged  to  pay  for  your  insolence.  You 
should  feel  ashamed  of  the  disgrace  you  have  brought 
upon  us.  I  ask  you  if  you  think  it  just,  first  to  violate 
our  neutrality  and  then  leave  us  to  be  destroyed  or  pay 
for  your  aggressions?" 

From  this  port  Decatur  proceeded  to  Tripoli,  where 
he  dropped  anchor  on  the  5th  of  August,  and  with  his 
usual  straightforwardness  came  to  the  object  of  his 
mission.  His  terms  with  the  Bashaw  were  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  two  prizes  of  the  Abellino  seized  by 
the  British  cruiser  Paulina,  a  salute  of  thirty-one  guns 
from  the  Bashaw's  castle  to  the  flag  at  the  American 
consulate,  and  that  the  negotiations  take  place  in  the 
Guerriere.  At  first  the  Bashaw  put  on  a  bold  front, 
and,  assembling  his  twenty  thousand  Arabs,  manned 
his  batteries  and  threatened  to  declare  war ;  but  when 
he  heard  of  the  treatment  Algiers  and  Tunis  had  re- 
ceived he  promptly  changed  his  demeanor,  the  more 
speedily  when  he  observed  the  American  squadron 
making  preparations  to  renew  the  scenes  of  the  bom- 
bardment of  1804.  The  Governor  of  Tripoli  boarded 
the  Guerriere  with  full  power  to  negotiate.  On  the 
assurance  of  the  American  consul  that  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  would  cover  the  loss  of  the  prizes, 


1815.  A  MOMENT  OF  PERIL.  19 

Decatur  consented  to  this  redaction,  provided  that 
ten  Christians  held  by  the  Bashaw  as  slaves  be  re- 
leased. "Two  of  these  slaves  were  Danish  youths, 
countrymen  of  the  worthy  Mr.  Nissen,  who  had  been 
so  indefatigable  in  exercising  kind  offices  toward  the 
officers  of  the  Philadelphia  while  they  were  captives 
in  Tripoli.  The  others  were  Sicilians,  being  a  gentle- 
man with  his  wife  and  children  who  had  been  captured 
together  and  involved  in  one  common  misfortune."1 
These  conditions  having  been  acceded  to  by  the  Bashaw 
and  the  money  handed  over,  the  Guerriere's  band  was 
landed,  and  treated  the  natives  to  a  purely  American 
rendering  of  "  Hail,  Columbia  !  " 

Having  adjusted  the  difficulties  with  the  Barbary 
States  in  true  man-of-war  style,  Decatur  sailed  for 
Sicily  and  landed  the  captives,  and  the  rest  of  the 
squadron  made  for  Gibraltar.  While  the  Guerriere 
was  beating  down  the  coast  from  Carthagena  alone, 
against  a  moderate  breeze,  she  met  the  remainder  of 
the  Algerian  squadron,  which  had  put  into  Malta. 
Fearing  that  the  treacherous  Moors  might  be  tempted 
to  renew  hostilities  under  such  favorable  circumstances, 
Captain  Decatur  cleared  for  action,  and,  collecting  his 
crew  on  the  quarter-deck,  addressed  them  as  follows : 
"My lads,  those  fellows  are  approaching  us  in  a  threat- 
ening manner.  We  have  whipped  them  into  a  treaty, 
and  if  the  treaty  is  to  be  broken  let  them  break  it.  Be 
careful  of  yourselves.  Let  any  man  fire  without  orders 
at  the  peril  of  his  life.  But  let  them  fire  first  if  they 
will,  and  we'll  take  the  whole  of  them."  The  crew  was 
sent  back  to  quarters  and  all  was  expectation  and 
silence,  while  care  was  taken  not  to  approach  too  near 
the  primed  and  leveled  guns,  lest  they  might  be  ac- 
cidentally discharged.  On  came  the  Algerian  ships  in 
line  of  battle,  seven  in  all — four  frigates  and  three 
sloops.  They  passed  close  to  the  Guerriere  in  ominous 

1  Mackenzie's  Life  of  Decatur,  p.  278. 


20  WAR  WITH   ALGIERS.  1815. 

silence,  until  their  last  ship,  the  admiral's,  drew  near 
and  hailed,  "Dove  andante ? "  (Where  are  you  going 2) 
To  this  Decatuf  defiantly,  replied  "Dove  mi  piace" 
(Where  it  pleases  me).  Nothing  followed  this  gruff  re- 
tort, and  the  ships  continued  on  their  courses. 

On  the  6th  of  October  Captain  Decatur's  squadron 
assembled  at  Gibraltar,  where  it  found  the  vessels 
under  Captain  Bainbridge :  the  74-gun  ship  of  the  line 
Independence,  the  44-gun  frigate  United  States,  the 
36-gun  frigate  Congress,  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Erie, 
the  16-gun  brig  Boxer,  the  16-gun  brig  CTiippewa,  the 
16-gun  brig  Saranac,  the  12-gun  schooner  Enterprise, 
the  12-gun  brig  Firefly  and  the  5-gun  sloop  Lynx. 
The  imposing  appearance  presented  by  the  two  squad- 
rons united  at  England's  impregnable  stronghold  so 
soon  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities  occasioned  no  lit- 
tle chagrin  in  the  British  garrison,  and  caused  some 
merriment  among  the  Spanish  and  foreign  residents. 
They  took  delight  in  pointing  out  the  Guerriere,  the 
Macedonian,  the  Epermer  and  the  Boxer — names  long 
associated  with  Britishnaval  supremacy,  but  now  calmly 
flying  American  colors  under  the  frowning  Rock  of  Gib- 
raltar and  before  the  sullen  faces  of  its  garrison.  The 
frequent  recurrence  of  such  names  as  Java,  Erie,  Cham- 
plain,  Peacock,  Ontario,  Penguin,  Frolic,  Reindeer, 
Avon,  Cyane  and  Levant,  gave  rise  to  much  ill  feeling 
and  brought  about  several  duels.  English  officials  had 
circulated  a  report  that  the  Americans  were  not  allowed 
to  build  ships  of  the  line,  but  the  appearance  of  the 
noble  Independence  contradicted  them. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Dey  of  Algiers, 
on  reflection,  would  calmly  submit  to  the  unusual  con- 
ditions of  his  American  treaty  without  many  regrets. 
Some  of  the  consuls  of  European  nations  at  Algiers  also 
were  mortified  at  the  affair,  and  encouraged  the  Dey  in 
the  belief  that  "it  was  disgraceful  to  the  Faithful  to 
humble  themselves  before  Christian  dogs"  in  this  man- 
ner. The  discontent  of  the  Dey  was  further  increased  by 


1815.  A  SECOND  SQUADRON   BEFORE  ALGIERS.  21 

the  treaty  that  he  succeeded  in  negotiating  with  Lord 
Exmouth,  shortly  after  Decatur's  squadron  left  Algiers. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  British  squadron 
consisted  of  six  line  of  battle  ships,  two  fiigates,  three 
sloops  of  war,  a  bomb  ship  and  several  transports,  he 
consented  to  pay  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  twelve  thousand  Neapolitan  and  Sardinian  captives. 
Encouraged  by  this  "diplomatic  victory  "over  Lord 
Exmouth,  the  Dey  became  bolder,  and  on  the  departure 
of  the  English  ships,  the  American  consul,  William  Sha- 
ler,  had  an  audience  with  the  Dey  and  gave  him  the 
copy  of  Decatur's  treaty  that  had  been  ratified  by  the 
Senate  and  was  brought  out  in  the/aoa,  Captain  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry.  The  Dey  affected  not  to  understand 
why  it  was  necessary  to  "ratify"  a  treaty,  and  said  he 
believed  it  to  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  United  States 
Government.  He  was  indignant  because  a  brig  cap- 
tured by  Captain  Decatur  on  the  coast  of  Spain  within 
the  three-mile  limit  had  been  delivered  up  to  the  Span- 
ish authorities.  The  Dey  abruptly  terminated  the  con- 
ference by  remarking  that  the  Americans  "were  un- 
worthy of  his  confidence."  The  next  day  he  refused 
to  hold  another  audience  with  Mr.  Shaler,  and  referred 
him  to  the  vizier,  who  returned  the  ratified  treaty  with 
insulting  expressions,  upon  which  Mr.  Shaler  hauled 
down  his  flag  and  went  aboard  the  Java.  In  antici- 
pation of  some  trouble  of  this  sort  a  squadron  had 
been  collected  off  Algiers :  the  44-gun  frigate  United 
States,  Captain  John  Shaw  ;  the  36-gun  frigate  Constel- 
lation Captain  Charles  Gordon  ;  the  44-gun  frigate  Java ; 
the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Erie,  Master-Commandant 
William  Crane ;  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Ontario,  Mas- 
ter Commandant  John  Downes.  This  squadron  sailed 
from  Port  Mahon  early  in  April  and  arrived  before  Al- 
giers on  the  8th  of  April.  When  the  Americans  heard 
of  the  action  of  the  Dey  they  drew  up  their  squadron 
in  a  position  to  bombard  the  Algerian  war  ships  at  the 
mole.  Arrangements  also  were  made  for  a  night  at- 


22  "WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  1815. 

tack.  All  the  boats  in  the  squadron,  with  twelve  hun- 
dred volunteers,  were  divided  into  two  flotillas,  one  of 
which  was  to  attack  the  water  battery  and  spike  the 
guns  while  the  other  was  to  carry  the  land  batteries. 
Ladders  were  prepared  for  scaling  the  walls,  and  cut- 
lasses and  boarding-pikes  were  sharpened.  Captain 
Gordon  was  to  command  the  expedition,  and  Captain 
Perry  to  be  second  in  command.  But  on  the  night  the 
attack  was  to  be  made  the  commander  of  a  French 
frigate  discovered  the  preparations  and  informed  the 
Dey,  who  became  so  alarmed  that  he  quickly  came  to 
terms,  with  renewed  expressions  of  friendship,  and  the 
treaty  was  formally  signed. 

From  Algiers  the  squadron  visited  Tripoli,  Syra- 
cuse, Messina  and  Palermo.  At  the  latter  port  it  was 
learned  that  the  Bey  of  Tunis  also  was  dissatisfied 
with  the  conditions  of  Decatur's  treaty,  and  on  the  18th 
of  June  the  squadron  appeared  at  that  port,  upon 
which  the  Bey  retracted  his  warlike  utterances.  The 
United  States,  the  Constellation,  the  Erie  and  the 
Ontario,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Shaw,  were 
now  detailed  for  the  Mediterranean  squadron,  while 
the  remainder  of  the  American  fleet  sailed  for  America 
in  October.  Shortly  afterward  the  74-gun  ship  of  the 
line  Washington,  Captain  Isaac  Chauncey,  arrived  at 
Gibraltar  and  became  the  flagship  of  the  squadron. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SUPPRESSION   OF   PIRACY. 

THE  success  of  the  United  States  in  securing  its  in- 
dependence of  Great  Britain  encouraged  the  Spanish 
colonies  in  America  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  mother 
country,  and  a  long  series  of  bloody  wars  followed. 
The  process  of  revolutionizing  governments,  at  best,  is 
generally  attended  by  acts  of  violence,  and  when  un- 
dertaken by  the  ignorant  and  depraved  people  of  the 
Spanish- American  colonies  it  led  to  rapine  and  piracy. 
When  the  standard  of  rebellion  was  raised  in  these 
provinces  adventurers  and  outlaws  from  many  coun- 
tries flocked  to  it,  ostensibly  to  serve  against  Spain,  but 
in  reality  attracted  by  the  prospects  of  plunder. 

Shortly  after  the  second  war  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  the  republics  of  Buenos 
Ayres  and  Venezuela  commissioned  swift-sailing  ves- 
sels, manned  by  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  men,  as 
privateers  to  prey  on  Spanish  merchantmen.  It  was 
not  long  before  these  ships  began  to  plunder  vessels  of 
neutral  nations,  and,  as  their  first  acts  of  violence  were 
not  promptly  checked,  piracy  soon  spread  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent.  Like  their  confreres  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, who  began  their  depredations  with  prayer,  these 
"patriots  afloat"  at  first  went  to  sea  with  a  religious 
benediction  and  were  denominated  "Brethren  of  the 
Coast."  Piracy  became  so  lucrative  that  the  farmers 
and  salt-makers  living  near  the  sea  abandoned  their 
calling  and  took  to  buccaneering.  Concealing  their 
boats  and  schooners  in  creeks  and  coves,  they  attacked 
unsuspecting  merchantmen,  plundered  the  vessels,  and 

23 


24  SUPPRESSION  OF   PIRACY.  1819. 

after  murdering  the  crews  or  setting  them  adrift,  as  the 
exigencies  of  the  occasion  required,  they  returned  to 
their  homes.  If  a  man-of-war  visited  the  scene  of  out- 
rage, or  the  civil  authorities  made  an  investigation,  the 
buccaneers  suddenly  resumed  their  original  vocation, 
and  in  this  guise  gave  false  information.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  pirates  had  organized  themselves  into  a 
secret  service,  by  means  of  which  messages  as  to  the 
movements  of  cruisers  and  merchantmen  were  sent 
along  the  coast  in  an  incredibly  short  time.  The  local 
authorities  and  some  of  the  high  officials  connived  at 
the  nefarious  practice,  while  many  merchants  in  the 
large  cities  boldly  announced  that  they  dealt  exten- 
sively in  goods  "  at  a  peculiarly  low  figure."  Although 
not  every  instance  of  piracy  was  attended  by  murder, 
yet  there  were  many  cases  of  wanton  cruelty  and  cold- 
blooded butchery  that  the  cheap  novels  have  failed  to 
exaggerate.  A  drifting  hulk,  with  strong  boxes  broken 
open,  the  hold  plundered,  and  here  and  there  splashes 
of  blood  on  the  cabin  furniture  or  bulwarks,  and  putre- 
fying corpses  scattered  about  the  decks  covered  with 
sea  birds  feeding  on  the  carrion,  were  the  unmistakable 
evidences  of  their  work. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  was  anxious 
to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  republics  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Venezuela,  which  it  had  been  the 
first  to  recognize,  but  at  the  same  time  reports  of  out- 
rages on  American  merchantmen  continued  to  come  in 
with  alarming  frequency,  and  in  1819  Captain  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry  was  called  upon  to  perform  the  delicate 
task  of  putting  a  stop  to  piracy  while  still  retaining  the 
good  will  of  these  republics.  The  John  Adams,  flag- 
ship, the  Constellation,  Master-Commandant  Alexander 
Scammell  Wadsworth,  and  the  Nonsuch,  Lieutenant 
Alexander  Claxton,  were  detailed  for  this  duty.  The 
principal  point  to  be  obtained  from  the  Venezuelan 
Government  was  a  complete  list  and  description  of  all 
the  privateers  it  had  commissioned,  so  that  American 


1819.  CAPTAIN  PERRY  IN  THE  ORINOCO.  25 

cruisers  would  have  less  difficulty  in  distinguishing  the 
miscreants.  Captain  Perry  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Orinoco  River,  July  15,  1819,  and  as  there  were  only 
sixteen  feet  of  water  on  the  bar  he  shifted  his  flag  to 
the  Nonsuch  and  began  the  ascent  of  the  river.  He 
describes  this  journey  in  his  private  journal  as  follows : 
"  The  sun,  as  soon  as  it  shows  itself  in  the  morning, 
strikes  almost  through  you.  Mosquitoes,  sand  flies  and 
gnats  cover  you,  and  as  the  sun  gets  up  higher  it  be- 
comes entirely  calm,  and  the  rays  pour  down  a  heat 
that  is  insufferable.  The  fever  that  it  creates,  together 
with  the  irritation  caused  by  the  insects,  produces  a 
thirst  which  is  insatiable,  to  quench  which  we  drink 
water  at  a  temperature  of  eighty-two  degrees.  About 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  rain  squall,  accompanied 
by  a  little  wind,  generally  takes  place.  It  might  be 
supposed  that  this  would  cool  the  air,  but  not  so,  for 
the  steam  which  arises  as  soon  as  the  sun  comes  out 
makes  the  heat  still  more  intolerable.  At  length  night 
approaches,  and  we  go  close  inshore  and  anchor.  Myr- 
iads of  mosquitoes  and  gnats  come  off  to  the  vessel  and 
compel  us  to  sit  over  strong  smoke  created  by  burning 
oakum  and  tar,  rather  than  endure  their  terrible  stings, 
until,  wearied  and  exhausted,  we  go  to  bed  to  endure 
new  torments.  Shut  up  in  the  berth  of  a  small  cabin, 
if  there  is  any  air  stirring  not  a  breath  of  it  can  reach 
us.  The  mosquitoes,  more  persevering,  follow  us  and 
annoy  us  the  whole  night  by  their  noise  and  bites,  un- 
til, almost  mad  with  the  heat  and  pain,  we  rise  to  go 
through  the  same  troubles  the  next  day." 

On  reaching  Angostura,  three  hundred  miles  up  the 
river,  July  26th,  Captain  Perry  asked  for  the  list  of 
commissioned  privateers,  and  said  that  the  American 
schooner  Brutus,  commanded  by  Nicholas  Joly,  had 
been  illegally  condemned  and  sold  in  a  Venezuelan 
port.  President  Bolivar  being  away  with  the  army, 
Vice-President  Don  Antonio  Francisco  Zea  gave  the 
American  officer  an  audience  and  promised  to  furnish 


26  SUPPRESSION  OF  PIRACY.  1819. 

the  desired  information  in  a  few  days.  At  that  time  the 
town  was  afflicted  with  fever,  and  two  Englishmen,  liv- 
ing in  the  house  with  Captain  Perry,  died  from  it.  The 
crew  of  the  Nonsuch  became  sickly,  while  the  Creoles 
were  dying  almost  every  day.  The  surgeon  of  the 
Nonsuch  also  was  taken  down  with  the  fever.  But 
still  Perry  remained  in  the  plague-stricken  place  day 
after  day,  waiting  for  an  answer  to  his  communications. 
The  natives  of  the  place  were  opposed  to  the  Americans 
and  friendly  to  the  English,  and  paragraphs  from  Eng- 
lish papers  hostile  to  the  United  States  were  trans- 
lated and  printed.  On  the  llth  of  August  Captain 
Perry  received  an  official  reply  to  his  demand,  in  which 
indemnity  was  promised.  The  Vice- President  urged 
him  to  remain  until  August  14th,  in  order  to  attend  a 
dinner  to  be  given  in  his  honor  in  the  name  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. In  spite  of  the  danger,  Captain  Perry  deemed 
it  his  duty  to  remain  in  the  fever-stricken  place,  as  he 
feared  a  refusal  might  give  offense. 

He  sailed  from  Angostura  on  the  15th,  and  on  the 
night  of  the  17th  reached  the  bar,  where  he  was  detained 
by  a  strong  southwest  breeze.  During  the  night  occa- 
sional dashes  of  spray  fell,  over  the  Nonsuch,  and,  de- 
scending the  companionway,  fell  on  Captain  Perry,  who 
was  sleeping  in  his  berth,  but  did  not  arouse  him.  At 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  awoke  with  a  chill,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  he  showed  all  the  symptoms  of  the 
dreaded  fever,  and  on  the  24th  of  August  he  died  aboard 
ship  just  as  the  Nonsuch  reached  Port  of  Spain,  Trini- 
dad. It  happened  that  many  of  the  officers  and  men  of 
the  British  regiment  stationed  at  this  place  had  served 
in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie  and  entertained  the  highest 
respect  for  Captain  Perry,  and  remembered  his  kind- 
nesses to  them  when  they  were  his  prisoners.  When 
it  was  known  that  he  was  about  to  visit  Trinidad,  ex- 
tensive preparations  were  made  to  give  him  a  cordial 
reception ;  and  when  the  dead  body  of  the  American 
commander  was  brought  ashore  the  preparations  for 


1821.  CRUISING  FOR  PIRATES.  27 

festivity  were  changed  into  mourning.  Captain  Perry 
was  buried  with  the  highest  civic  and  military  honors, 
Sir  Ralph  Woodford,  the  governor,  attending  the  fune- 
ral with  his  entire  suite.  Perry's  body  afterward  was 
removed  to  Newport,  R.  I.1 

It  was  not  until  1821  that  piracy  became  so  general 
in  the  West  Indies  as  to  compel  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment to  take  vigorous  measures  against  it.  In  the 
autumn  of  this  year  the  following  vessels  were  detailed 
for  service  in  the  West  Indies  The  18-gun  sloop  of 
war  Hornet,  Master-Commandant  Robert  Henley ; 
the  12-gun  brig  Enterprise,  Lieutenant  Lawrence 
Kearny ;  the  12-gun  brig  Spark;  the  12-gun  schooner 
Shark;  the  12-gun  schooner  Porpoise,  Lieutenant 
James  Ramage ;  the  12-gun  schooner  Grampus,  Lieu- 
tenant Francis  Hoyt  Gregory ;  and  three  gunboats. 
Considering  the  extent  to  which  piracy  had  grown,  the 
innumerable  hiding  places  in  which  the  marauders 
could  conceal  themselves  and  the  facilities  offered  by 
the  officials,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  this  force 
would  accomplish  much.  Yet  great  activity  was  dis- 
played by  the  commanders  of  these  vessels,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Kearny,  while  cruising  off  Cape  Antonio,  Octo- 
ber 16th,  came  upon  four  piratical  craft  in  the  act  of 
plundering  three  American  merchantmen.  As  the  ves- 
sels were  close  inshore,  where  there  was  not  enough 
water  for  the  Enterprise  to  follow,  Lieutenant  Kearny 
promptly  manned  five  boats  and  sent  them  to  the  res- 
cue. On  the  approach  of  the  Americans  the  bucca- 
neers, after  setting  fire  to  two  of  the  schooners,  made 
sail  to  escape.  Two  of  their  schooners  and  one  sloop, 
having  about  forty  men  aboard,  were  captured  and 
taken  to  Charleston.  A  month  later  Lieutenant  Kearny 
destroyed  a  resort  of  the  pirates  near  Cape  Antonio, 

1  On  November  16,  1825,  Thomas  Macdonough,  the  hero  of  the  battle 
of  Lake  Champlain,  died  at  sea,  ten  days  out  from  Gibraltar,  homeward 
bound.  After  the  War  of  1812  he  was  active  in  the  service,  and  had  just 
been  relieved  of  the  command  of  the  Mediterranean  squadron  when  he  died. 


28  SUPPRESSION  OP  PIRACY.  1821-1822. 

and  on  the  21st  of  December  he  captured  a  piratical 
schooner,  but  its  crew  of  twenty-five  men  escaped. 
While  in  the  vicinity  of  this  place  the  Enterprise,  on 
the  6th  of  March,  1822,  captured  four  barges  and 
three  launches  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  men.  In 
the  meantime,  October  29,  1821,  Master-Commandant 
Eobert  Henley,  in  the  Hornet,  captured  the  schooner 
Moscow,  which  he  sent  into  Norfolk ;  and  on  the  17th  of 
January,  1822,  a  boat  party  of  forty  men  under  Lieuten- 
ant James  Freeman  Curtis,  of  the  Porpoise,  captured 
a  piratical  schooner.  Manning  the  prize,  Curtis  pro- 
ceeded some  ten  miles  down  the  coast  and  captured  in 
handsome  style  the  principal  rendezvous  of  the  pirates, 
making  three  prisoners  and  destroying  five  vessels,  one 
of  them  "  a  beautiful  new  60-ton  schooner." 

Piracy  in  the  West  Indies  had  become  too  wide- 
spread to  be  checked  by  a  few  captures,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1822  the  American  squadron  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  Captain  James  Biddle,  and  was 
re-enforced  by  the  38-gun  frigate  Macedonian,  flag- 
ship ;  the  36-gun  frigate  Congress ;  the  28-gun  cor- 
vette John  Adams ;  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Peacock, 
Master-Commandant  Stephen  Cassin ;  and  the  12-gun 
schooner  Alligator,  Lieutenant  William  Howard  Allen. 
One  of  the  first  captures  made  by  this  squadron  was 
effected  by  the  Shark,  Lieutenant  Matthew  Calbraith 
Perry,  and  the  Grampus,  Lieutenant  Gregory.  In 
June  these  little  cruisers  overtook  and  after  a  sharp 
fight  captured  the  notorious  pirate  Bandar  a  D'San- 
gare,  and  another  piratical  craft.  Meeting  the  Con- 
gress at  sea,  July  24th,  they  put  all  the  prisoners 
aboard  the  frigate,  while  the  Shark  and  the  Grampus 
continued  their  cruise,  and  before  the  season  was  over 
Lieutenant  Perry  captured  five  buccaneering  craft. 
Near  St.  Croix  the  Grampus  captured  the  famous 
pirate  brig  Pandrita,  a  vessel  of  superior  force. 

While  cruising  on  this  station,  August  16,  1822,  the 
Grampus  chased  a  brigantine  that  was  flying  Spanish 


1822.  DEATH  OP   LIEUTENANT  ALLEN.  29 

colors,  but,  believing  her  to  be  a  pirate,  Lieutenant 
Gregory  insisted  on  her  surrender.  In  reply  to  his 
summons  he  received  a  discharge  of  cannon  and  mus- 
ketry, which  was  promptly  returned,  and  in  less  than 
four  minutes  the  stranger  hauled  down  her  flag.  On 
boarding,  she  was  found  to  be  the  privateer  Palmira, 
of  Porto  Rico,  which  had  recently  plundered  the 
American  schooner  Coquette.  The  prize  carried  one 
long  18-pounder  and  eight  short  18-pounders,  with  a 
crew  of  eighty-eight  men,  of  whom  one  was  killed  and 
six  were  wounded.  The  Grampus  was  uninjured. 
The  Palmira  was  one  of  the  many  vessels  sailing  with 
a  privateer's  commission  that  had  resorted  to  piracy  as 
the  shortest  road  to  wealth.  On  the  28th  and  30th  of 
September  the  Peacock,  Master-Commandant  Stephen 
Cassin,  captured  five  piratical  craft. 

This  success  was  followed,  November  8th,  by  a 
spirited  attack  on  three  piratical  schooners.  While 
lying  in  the  harbor  of  Matanzas,  Lieutenant  Allen,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Argus-Pelican  fight, 
in  1813,  heard  that  three  schooners  flying  the  black 
flag  and  manned  by  about  three  hundred  men  were 
forty-five  miles  up  the  coast,  with  five  merchantmen  in 
their  possession.  Promptly  getting  under  way,  Lieu- 
tenant Allen  came  upon  the  buccaneers  on  the  following 
day,  and  as  the  shoal  water  prevented  the  Alligator 
from  closing  on  them  the  boats  were  ordered  out. 
The  pirates  immediately  made  sail,  and  at  the  same 
time  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the  pursuing  boats.  One  of 
their  musket  shot  struck  Lieutenant  Allen  in  the  head 
while  he  was  standing  in  his  boat  (which  was  in  ad- 
vance of  the  others)  animating  his  men  by  his  example, 
and  soon  afterward  another  ball  entered  his  breast,  and 
in  a  few  hours  he  died.  The  Americans  continued  the 
chase  and  captured  one  of  the  schooners,  besides  re- 
capturing the  five  merchant  vessels.  The  pirates  did 
not  wait  to  be  boarded,  but  took  to  their  boats  and  es- 
caped with  their  two  remaining  schooners,  not,  however, 


30 


SUPPRESSION  OF  PIRACY.  1822-1823. 


without  a  loss  of  fourteen  killed  and  a  large  number  of 
wounded.  The  American  loss  was  three  killed,  two 
mortally  wounded  and  three  injured.  The  captured 
schooner  mounted  one  long  12-pounder,  two  long  6- 
pounders,  and  four  light  guns.  Lieutenant  Allen  was 
born  in  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  on  the  8th  of  November,  1790, 
and  entered  the  navy  as  a  midshipman  January  1, 1808. 
He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  July  24, 
1817,  and  displayed  great  gallantry  in  the  Argus-Peli- 
can fight.  Halleck  wrote  a  poem  on  his  death.  In 
the  night  of  November  19th  the  Alligator  was  lost  on 
Carysford  Reef,  but  her  officers  and  crew  were  saved. 

The  service  in  which  the  American  squadron  was 
engaged  was  peculiarly  hazardous  and  exhausting. 
Much  of  the  work  was  done  in  open  boats,  so  that  the 
men  were  not  only  exposed  to  the  enemy's  bullets  but 
to  the  fierce  rays  of  the  sun,  while  the  cruisers  were 
continually  in  danger  of  hurricanes  and  wreck  on  the 
treacherous  shoals.  From  the  proximity  to  swamps  and 
sickly  localities,  fever  and  malaria  were  not  the  least 
dangerous  of  their  foes.  The  connivance  of  the  local 
authorities  enabled  many  pirates  to  escape  when 
chased  to  shore,  and  it  was  only  with  considerable  di- 
plomacy that  Captain  Biddle  secured  permission  to 
land  and  pursue  them  into  their  haunts.  It  became 
more  and  more  apparent  to  the  Government  that  a 
larger  number  of  small  craft  was  necessary  for  this 
service,  because  of  the  shoal  waters  and  narrow  creeks 
in  which  the  marauders  took  refuge.  Early  in  1823 
Captain  David  Porter  was  appointed  commander  of  the 
West  India  forces,  but  before  sailing  from  the  United 
States  he  secured  five  barges  fitted  with  twenty  oars 
each  for  the  service.  They  were  appropriately  styled 
the  mosquito  fleet,  and  were  named  the  Mosquito,  the 
Gnat,  the  Midge,  the  Sandfiy  and  the  Gallinipper— 
insects  with  which  their  crews  were  destined  to  be  un- 
pleasantly familiar.  To  this  force  were  added  eight 
small  schooners  armed  with  three  guns  each,  named 


1823.  THE  ATTACK  ON  THE  FOX.  31 

the  Greyhound,  the  Jackal,  the  Fox,  the  Wildcat,  the 
Beagle,  the  Ferret,  the  TFeaseZ  and  the  Terrier.  A 
New  York  steam  ferryboat,  about  one  third  of  the  size 
of  the  present  vessels,  was  fitted  up  for  the  service  and 
named  the  Seagull.  The  store  vessel  Decoy,  mounting 
six  guns  also  was  purchased.  Captain  Porter's  flag- 
ship was  the  Peacock,  and  the  other  cruisers  under  his 
orders  were  the  John  Adams,  the  Hornet,  the  Spark, 
the  Grampus  and  the  Shark.  The  entire  force  under 
his  command  was  not  equal  to  three  first-rate  frigates. 

Arriving  off  Porto  Rico  in  March.  1823,  Captain 
Porter  made  it  his  first  object  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  the  local  authorities,  and  with  that  end  in  view  he 
dispatched  the  Greyhound,  Master-Commandant  John 
Porter,  March  3d,  with  a  letter  to  the  Governor  of  Porto 
Rico.  Not  getting  a  prompt  reply,  he  sent  the  Fox, 
Lieutenant  W.  H.  Cocke,  into  the  harbor  to  inquire 
about  the  governor's  answer.  As  the  Fox  was  standing 
into  the  port  a  shot  was  fired  over  her  from  the  fort, 
and  as  she  did  not  immediately  heave  to  another  shot 
was  fired,  which  killed  Lieutenant  Cocke.  The  fort 
followed  this  up  with  four  other  shot,  when  the  Fox 
came  to  anchor  under  its  guns.  On  making  an  in- 
quiry, Captain  Porter  was  informed  that  the  governor 
was  absent  and  had  left  orders  to  the  commander  of 
the  fort  to  allow  no  suspicious  vessels  to  enter,  and  it 
was  in  pursuance  of  this  order  that  the  Fox  had  been 
fired  upon.  It  was  the  general  belief  of  the  American 
officers  that  the  act  was  a  retaliation  for  the  capture  of 
the  Palmira.  The  matter  was  reported  to  the  Govern- 
ment, but  nothing  further  was  done. 

The  American  naval  force  was  now  divided  so  as  to 
scour  the  northern  and  southern  coasts  of  St.  Domingo 
and  Cuba,  after  which  the  vessels  were  to  rendezvous 
at  Key  West,  where  Captain  Porter  intended  to  build 
hospitals  and  storehouses  and  to  make  it  his  headquar- 
ters. In  carrying  out  this  programme,  the  Greyhound, 
Lieutenant  Lawrence  Kearny,  and  the  Beagle,  Lieuten- 


32  SUPPRESSION  OF  PIRACY.  1823. 

ant  J.  T.  Newton,  came  upon  a  nest  of  pirates  at  Cape 
Cruz  and  destroyed  eight  of  their  boats,  besides  a  bat- 
tery mounting  a  4-pounder  and  two  swivels.  This  was 
not  done  without  a  fierce  struggle,  and  the  wife  of  the 
pirate  chief  fought  with  desperate  ferocity  before  she 
was  overpowered,  while  her  children  kindled  fires  to 
warn  other  piratical  resorts  in  the  neighborhood. 
Many  human  bones  and  quantities  of  stolen  merchan- 
dise were  found  in  a  cave  near  by.  Midshipman  David 
Glasgow  Farragut,  who  commanded  the  landing  party, 
gives  a  graphic  description  of  this  attack  in  his  Jour- 
nal as  follows : 

"Cruising  all  through  the  Jardines  and  around  the 
Isle  of  Pines  we  kept  a  watchful  eye  on  the  coast,  but 
nothing  occurred  until  one  day  when  we  were  anchored 
off  Cape  Cruz  in  company  with  the  Beagle.  Kearny 
and  Newton  went  on  shore  in  one  of  the  boats  to  see  if 
there  was  any  game  in  the  neighborhood.  The  boat's 
crew  was  armed  as  usual,  and  had  been  on  shore  but 
a  short  time  when  a  man  suddenly  crossed  the  path.1 
From  his  suspicious  appearance  one  of  the  sailors, 
named  McCabe,  leveled  his  gun  at  the  stranger  and 
was  about  to  pull  the  trigger,  when  his  arm  was  arrested 
by  Kearny,  who  asked  what  he  was  aiming  at.  'A 

d d  pirate,  sir,'  was  the  response.     'How  do  you 

know?'  'By  his  rig,'  said  the  man  promptly.  By 
this  time  the  fellow  had  disappeared ;  but  our  men 
had  scarcely  taken  their  seats  in  the  boat  in  readiness 
to  shove  oil,  when  they  received  a  full  volley  of  mus- 
ketry from  the  dense  woods  or  chaparral.  The  fire 
was  returned  as  soon  as  possible,  but  with  no  effect  as 
far  as  could  be  ascertained,  the  pirates  being  well  con- 
cealed behind  the  bushes.  On  board  the  Greyhound 
we  could  hear  the  firing,  but  could  render  no  assist- 
ance, as  Lieutenant  Kearny  had  the  only  available  boat 
belonging  to  the  vessel.  Kearny  reached  us  at  dark,  re- 
lated his  adventure,  and  ordered  me  to  be  in  readiness 
to  land  with  a  party  at  three  o'clock  the  next  morning. 


1823.  A   LAND  ATTACK.  33 

"The  schooner  was  to  warp  up  inside  the  rocks  to 
cover  the  attacking  party.  I  landed,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Harrison,  of  the  Beagle,  the  marines  of  both  ves- 
sels, numbering  twelve  men,  and  the  stewards  and 
boys,  making  in  all  a  force  of  seventeen.  We  had  or- 
ders to  keep  back  from  the  beach,  that  we  might  not  be 
mistaken  for  pirates  and  receive  the  fire  of  the  vessels. 
We  were  all  ignorant  of  the  topography  of  the  coast, 
and  when  we  landed  found  ourselves  on  a  narrow 
strip  of  land  covered  with  a  thick  and  almost  impass- 
able chaparral,  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  la- 
goon. With  great  difficulty  we  made  our  way  through 
marsh  and  bramble,  clearing  a  passage  with  cutlasses, 
till  we  reached  the  mouth  of  the  lagoon.  We  were 
compelled  to  show  ourselves  on  the  beach  at  this  point, 
and  narrowly  escaped  being  fired  upon  from  the  Grey- 
Ttound,  but  luckily,  covered  with  mud  as  I  was,  Lieu- 
tenant Kearny  with  his  glass  made  out  my  epaulet  and 
immediately  sent  boats  to  transport  us  across  to  the 
eastern  shore.  We  found  the  country  there  very 
rocky,  and  the  rock  was  honeycombed  and  had  the 
appearance  of  iron,  with  sharp  edges.  The  men  from 
the  Beagle  joined  us,  which  increased  my  force  to 
about  thirty  men.  The  captain,  in  the  meantime, 
wishing  to  be  certain  as  to  the  character  of  the  men 
who  had  fired  on  him  the  previous  evening,  pulled 
boldly  up  again  in  his  boat  with  a  flag  flying.  Scarce- 
ly was  he  within  musket  range  when  from  under  the 
bluffs  of  the  cape  he  received  a  volley  of  musketry 
and  a  discharge  from  a  4-pound  swivel.  There  was  no 
longer  any  doubt  in  the  matter,  and,  considering  that 
the  enemy  had  too  large  a  force  to  imperil  his  whole 
command  on  shore,  Kearny  decided  to  re-embark  all 
but  my  original  detachment,  and  I  was  ordered  to 
attack  the  pirates  in  the  rear  while  the  schooners  at- 
tacked them  in  front.  The  pirates  had  no  idea  that 
our  schooners  could  get  near  enough  to  reach  them, 
but  in  this  they  were  mistaken,  for,  by  pulling  along 
48 


34  SUPPRESSION  OP  PIRACY.  1823. 

among  the  rocks,  our  people  were  soon  able  to  bring 
their  guns  to  bear  on  the  bluffs,  which  caused  a  scat- 
tering among  the  miscreants.  My  party  all  this  time 
was  struggling  through  the  thicket  that  covered  the 
rocks,  the  long,  sharp  thorns  of  the  cactus  giving  us  a 
great  deal  of  trouble.  Then  there  was  a  scrubby  thorn 
bush,  so  thick  as  almost  to  shut  out  the  air,  rendering 
it  next  to  impossible  to  get  along  any  faster  than  we 
could  hew  our  way  with  the  cutlasses.  The  heat  had 
become  so  intense  that  Lieutenant  Somerville,  who  had 
accompanied  us,  fainted.  Our  progress  was  so  slow 
that  by  the  time  the  beach  was  reached  the  pirates 
were  out  of  sight.  Now  and  then  a  fellow  would  be 
seen  in  full  run,  and  apparently  fall  down  and  dis- 
appear from  view.  We  caught  one  old  man  in  this 
difficult  chase. 

"  Our  surprise  was  very  great,  on  returning  to  make 
an  examination  of  the  place  lately  vacated  by  the  pi- 
rates, to  find  that  they  had  several  houses,  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  feet  long,  concealed  from  view,  and  a 
dozen  boats  and  all  the  necessary  apparatus  for  tur- 
tling  and  fishing  as  well  as  for  pirating.  An  immense 
cave  was  discovered,  filled  with  plunder  of  various 
kinds,  including  many  articles  marked  with  English 
labels,  with  saddles  and  costumes  worn  by  the  higher 
classes  of  Spanish  peasants.  In  the  vicinity  were 
found  several  of  these  caves,  in  which  a  thousand  men 
might  have  concealed  themselves  and  held  the  strong 
position  against  a  largely  superior  force.  We  con- 
tented ourselves  with  burning  their  houses  and  carry- 
ing off  the  plunder,  cannon  etc.,  and  returned  to  the 
vessel.  The  only  man  we  captured,  who  had  every  ap- 
pearance of  being  a  leper,  was  allowed  to  go. 

"My  only  prize  on  this  occasion  was  a  large  black 
monkey,  which  I  took  in  single  combat.  He  bit  me 
through  the  arm,  but  had  to  surrender  at  discretion. 
In  our  first  march  through  the  swamp  our  shoes  be- 
came much  softened,  and  in  the  last  many  were  com- 


1823.  MARCHING  IN  MUD.  35 

pletely  cut  from  the  feet  of  the  men.  Fortunately  for 
myself,  I  had  put  on  a  pair  of  pegged  negro  brogans 
and  got  along  pretty  well,  while  some  of  my  comrades 
suffered  severely.  One  of  the  officers  lost  his  shoe  in 
the  swamp,  and  one  of  the  men,  in  endeavoring  to  re- 
cover it,  was  mired  in  a  most  ludicrous  manner — one 
arm  and  one  leg  in  the  mud  and  one  arm  and  one  leg 
in  the  air.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  ridiculous  appear- 
ance we  made  when  we  got  to  the  shore.  My  panta- 
loons were  glued  to  my  legs,  my  jacket  was  torn  to 
shreds,  and  I  was  loaded  with  mud.  The  men  under 
Somerville  saluted  me  as  their  commander,  but  the 
sight  was  too  much  for  all  hands  and  there  was  a  gen- 
eral burst  of  laughter.  Another  ridiculous  incident  of 
the  expedition  may  as  well  be  mentioned.  When  we 
had  advanced  about  half  a  mile  into  the  thicket  I  or- 
dered a  halt,  to  await  the  preconcerted  signal  gun  from 
the  schooner  to  push  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
At  this  moment  I  heard  a  great  noise  in  our  rear,  and 
it  occurred  to  me  that  the  pirates  might  be  behind  us 
in  force.  In  forming  my  men  to  receive  the  attack 
from  that  direction,  I  made  a  most  animated  speech, 
encouraging  them  to  fight  bravely,  but  had  scarcely 
concluded  my  harangue  when,  to  my  great  relief,  it 
was  discovered  that  the  noise  proceeded  from  about 
ten  thousand  land  crabs  making  their  way  through  the 
briers."1 

About  the  1st  of  April  the  Fox,  the  Jackal,  the  Gal- 
linipper  and  the  Mosquito,  under  the  orders  of  Master- 
Commandant  Cassin,  kept  guard  on  the  northwestern 
coast  of  Cuba  and  gave  convoy  to  a  large  fleet  of  mer- 
chantmen. Hearing  that  a  suspicious-looking  vessel 
was  in  the  neighborhood,  Master-Commandant  Cassin 
dispatched  the  Gallinipper,  Lieutenant  Cornelius  Kin- 
chiloe  Stribling,  in  search  of  it.  In  the  early  dawn  of 
April  8th  Lieutenant  Stribling  discovered  a  strange 

1  Farragut's  Journal. 


og  SUPPRESSION  OF   PIRACY.  1823. 

craft  working  close  inshore,  and  opened  fire  on  her  with 
musketry  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  her  to.  The 
stranger  responded  with  a  discharge  of  round  shot, 
grape  and  small  arms,  at  the  same  time  making  stren- 
uous efforts  to  escape,  but  finally  she  was  compelled  to 
run  ashore,  and  all  her  men,  except  two  who  escaped, 
were  killed.  The  prize  was  the  fast-sailing  schooner 
Pilot,  of  Norfolk,  armed  with  a  long  12-pounder,  and 
had  been  captured  by  the  pirates  only  eight  days  be- 
fore. The  leader  of  the  pirates  was  the  notorious 
Domingo,  who  showed  a  "nice  sense  of  honor"  by 
forwarding  to  Captain  Porter  and  his  officers  letters 
that  he  had  found  in  the  Pilot,  remarking  that  he  did 
not  "wish  to  deprive  them  of  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
from  their  friends." 

About  the  same  time  that  Master-Commandant  Cas- 
sin  captured  the  Pilot,  he  destroyed  several  resorts  of 
the  pirates  and  three  of  their  schooners.  Entering  a 
bay  noted  as  a  rendezvous  for  pirates,  he  discovered 
a  felucca  standing  out,  which,  on  being  chased,  ran 
ashore  and  her  crew  escaped  into  the  woods.  It  was  a 
newly  coppered  boat  propelled  by  sixteen  oars,  and 
evidently  was  just  setting  out  on  its  first  marauding 
expedition. 

Lieutenant  Newell,  while  cruising  with  the  Ferret 
in  the  vicinity  of  Matanzas,  discovered  a  heavily  armed 
barge  in  a  bay  and  sent  his  only  boat  to  reconnoiter. 
Scarcely  had  the  boat  got  within  musket  shot  when  a 
number  of  pirates  on  shore  ran  down  to  the  water's 
edge  and  opened  a  brisk  fire  on  the  Americans,  and 
some  of  their  shot  took  effect  at  the  water  line  of  the 
boat,  so  the  party  was  compelled  to  return  to  the  Fer- 
ret. Lieutenant  Newell  then  stood  inshore  and  opened 
fire  on  the  barge  and  seven  boats  that  were  seen  on  the 
beach ;  but  as  it  was  blowing  a  heavy  gale,  and  the 
Ferret  could  fire  only  when  staying,  she  soon  desisted 
and  made  sail  for  Matanzas  to  secure  another  boat.  On 
his  way  to  that  port  Lieutenant  Newell  fell  in  with  an 


1823.  CAPTURE  OF  THE  CATALINA.  37 

English  brig,  and,  obtaining  a  boat  from  her,  he  imme- 
diately returned  to  the  attack.  But  the  pirates  had 
retreated  to  a  lagoon  some  miles  inland,  taking  with 
them  all  but  two  of  their  boats. 

About  three  months  after  Captain  Porter  arrived  at 
Havana  several  acts  of  piracy  were  reported,  and  he  or- 
dered the  Gall/nipper,  Lieutenant  William  II.  Watson, 
and  the  Mosquito,  Lieutenant  William  Inman,  having 
aboard  five  officers  and  twenty-six  men  in  all,  to  cruise 
around  the  island  and  keep  a  careful  lookout  for  the 
buccaneers.  In  carrying  out  these  instructions  Lieuten- 
ant Watson  had  reached  the  bay  where  Lieutenant  Allen 
had  been  killed  the  year  before,  when  a  large  topsail 
schooner,  and  a  launch  filled  with  men,  were  discovered 
working  along  the  shore  toward  the  anchorage  of  sev- 
eral merchant  vessels.  The  Galli  nipper  and  the  Mos- 
quito showed  their  colors  and  bore  down  on  the  stran- 
gers, upon  which  the  schooner  hoisted  the  Spanish  flag 
and  opened  a  rapid  fire,  and  at  the  same  time  made  sail 
to  escape.  In  the  long  chase  that  followed  the  Amer- 
ican barges  were  exposed  to  the  pirates'  fire.  Having 
run  close  inshore,  the  schooner  and  the  launch  anchored 
with  springs  on  their  cables,  and  made  preparations  for 
an  obstinate  defense.  Although  there  were  from  sev- 
enty to  eighty  of  the  pirates,  and  the  entire  force  of  the 
Americans  was  only  thirty-one  men,  Lieutenant  Watson 
gave  the  order  to  attack,  and  in  spite  of  a  hot  fire  the 
Americans,  shouting  "Hurrah  for  Allen!"  dashed  at 
the  buccaneers  and  drove  them  into  the  sea.  Not  wait- 
ing to  take  possession  of  the  prizes,  the  Gallinipper 
and  the  Mosquito  sailed  past,  and  were  soon  in  the 
midst  of  the  swimmers,  and,  laying  about  right  and 
left,  exterminated  several  dozens  of  them.  With  the 
aid  of  the  local  authorities,  nearly  all  the  miscreants 
were  either  killed  or  captured.  None  of  the  Americans 
were  injured.  The  schooner  proved  to  be  the  Catalina, 
mounting  one  long  9-pounder  and  three  6-pounders, 
commanded  by  Diabolito,  or  Little  Devil,  a  notorious 


38  SUPPRESSION  OF   PIRACY.  1823-1824. 

pirate  of  the  West  Indies,  who,  on  refusing  to  surren- 
der, was  killed  in  the  water.  The  Catalina  had  been 
taken  recently  from  the  Spaniards,  and  was  on  her  first 
piratical  cruise.  Lieutenant  Watson  took  five  prison- 
ers, whom  he  handed  over  to  the  authorities  when  he 
arrived  at  Havana.  Taken  altogether,  this  was  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  aifairs  of  the  year.  Lieutenant 
Watson  died  shortly  afterward  from  yellow  fever. 

Driven  from  the  sea  by  the  activity  of  the  American 
naval  force,  many  of  the  freebooters  continued  their 
depredations  on  land,  and  soon  became  as  great  a  terror 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  and  villages  as  they  had 
been  to  merchantmen  on  the  high  seas.  Several  estates 
near  Matanzas  were  plundered,  and  so  many  atrocities 
were  committed  on  the  outskirts  of  the  cities  that  finally 
it  became  necessary  to  send  the  cavalry  and  infantry 
after  them. 

Further  operations  against  the  pirates  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  yellow  fever  that  broke  out  at  Key  West 
in  August,  1823.  Several  of  the  men  died,  and  Captain 
Porter  and  some  of  the  officers  were  taken  down.  Find- 
ing that  there  was  little  chance  of  overcoming  the  dis- 
ease in  this  malarious  place,  Captain  Porter  sailed  for 
the  North  with  most  of  his  vessels,  and  after  the  men 
had  recovered  in  the  pure  air  he  returned  to  the  scene 
of  action. 

The  principal  feature  of  the  naval  operations  of 
1824  was  the  celebrated  Foxardo  affair.  On  the  26th 
of  October  Lieutenant  Charles  T.  Platt,  of  the  Beagle, 
learned  that  the  storehouse  of  the  American  consul  at 
St.  Thomas  had  been  broken  into  and  goods  valued  at 
five  thousand  dollars  taken  from  it.  It  was  believed 
that  the  stolen  property  had  been  carried  to  Foxardo, 
a  small  port  on  the  eastern  end  of  Porto  Rico.  Lieu- 
tenant Platt  anchored  off  that  port,  and,  waiting  upon 
the  civil  authorities,  informed  them  of  his  mission  and 
asked  their  assistance  in  recovering  the  plunder  and 
apprehending  the  robbers.  The  town  officers  treated 


1824.  THE   FOXARDO   AFFAIR.  39 

him  with  great  incivility,  and  as  the  American  lieuten- 
ant had  landed  without  his  uniform  they  demanded  his 
commission.  On  his  producing  that  paper  it  was  pro- 
nounced a  forgery,  and  Lieutenant  Platt  was  arrested 
on  the  charge  of  being  a  pirate.  He  and  Midshipman 
Robert  Ritchie,  who  accompanied  him,  were  placed 
under  arrest,  and  were  only  released  and  allowed  to  re- 
turn to  their  vessel  after  being  subjected  to  great  in- 
dignities. On  hearing  of  this  affair,  Captain  Porter, 
having  his  flag  on  the  John  Adams,  anchored  off  the 
port  with  the  Beagle  and  the  Grampus,  and  the  boats 
of  the  John  Adams,  under  the  command  of  Master- 
Commandant  Alexander  James  Dallas,  ran  into  the 
harbor.  In  a  letter  dated  November  12th,  addressed 
to  the  alcalde,  Captain  Porter  demanded  an  explana- 
tion of  the  treatment  the  American  officers  had  re- 
ceived, giving  that  magistrate  one  hour  for  an  answer. 
The  letter  was  sent  by  a  lieutenant  under  a  flag  of 
truce.  While  waiting  for  an  answer,  Captain  Porter 
noticed  that  preparations  were  being  made  in  a  shore 
battery  to  fire  on  him,  whereupon  he  detailed  a  detach- 
ment of  seamen  and  marines,  who  captured  the  bat- 
tery and  spiked  the  guns.  Captain  Porter  now  landed, 
and,  after  spiking  a  2-gun  battery  that  commanded 
the  road,  he  reached  the  town  in  half  an  hour.  Find- 
ing that  the  people  were  prepared  to  defend  them- 
selves, he  halted  to  await  the  flag  of  truce.  In  a 
short  time  the  alcalde  and  the  captain  of  the  port 
appeared  and  offered  ample  apology  to  Lieutenant 
Platt  for  the  indignities  to  which  they  had  subjected 
him,  and  expressed  regret  at  the  whole  occurrence, 
upon  wrhich  the  Americans  returned  to  their  ships. 

This  affair  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  United 
States  Government,  and,  in  an  order  dated  December 
27,  1824,  Captain  Porter  was  ordered  home,  and  on 
being  tried  by  court-martial  he  was  sentenced  to  be 
suspended  from  the  service  for  six  months.  Believing 
that  he  had  been  wronged,  Captain  Porter  resigned,  and 


40 


SUPPRESSION   OF   PIRACY.  1824-1825. 


entered  the  Mexican  navy,  where  he  remained  until 
1829,  when  he  was  appointed  by  President  Jackson  as 
United  States  consul-general  at  Algiers.  Afterward  he 
became  the  Minister  to  Turkey,  and  he  died  at  Pera, 
March  28,  1843.  His  body  was  brought  home,  and  is 
buried  in  the  grounds  of  the  Naval  Asylum  at  Phila- 
delphia. 

The  only  other  naval  operations  in  the  West  Indies 
in  1824  were  the  capture,  by  the  Porpoise,  Lieutenant 
Skinner,  of  a  schooner  which  had  been  deserted  by  its 
crew,  and  the  recapture  of  a  French  vessel  from  the 
pirates  by  the  Terrier,  Lieutenant  Paine,  the  pirate 
crew  escaping  to  the  shore.  On  the  4th  of  February, 
1825,  the  Ferret  was  capsized  in  a  squall  off  Cuba  and 
five  of  her  men  were  lost,  the  rest  of  her  crew  being 
rescued  by  the  Seagull  and  the  Jackal. 

Captain  Porter  was  succeeded  by  Captain  Lewis 
Warrington,  who  followed  out  much  the  same  plan  of 
operations  that  had  been  adopted  by  his  predecessors. 
Such  a  vigilant  watch  was  maintained  that  from  this 
time  but  few  instances  of  piracy  were  reported.  Hear- 
ing that  a  piratical  sloop  was  in  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Thomas,  Lieutenant  John  Drake  Sloat,  of  the 
Grampus,  who  was  cruising  in  that  vicinity,  March, 
1825,  secured  a  trading  sloop,  and,  disguising  her  as  a 
merchantman,  placed  in  her  two  lieutenants  and  twen- 
ty-three men.  The  ruse  proved  successful,  and  the 
piratical  craft  running  alongside  opened  fire,  which  the 
sloop  promptly  returned,  and  after  an  action  of  forty- 
five  minutes  the  pirates  ran  their  vessel  ashore  and  es- 
caped in  the  woods.  Ten  of  them  were  taken  prisoners 
by  Spanish  soldiers,  and  two  were  killed.  All  the  pris- 
oners were  executed  by  the  Government  of  Porto  Rico, 
among  them  being  the  notorious  pirate  Colfrecinas.  In 
the  same  month  the  Seagull,  Lieutenant  McKeever,  and 
the  Gallinipper,  fell  in  with  the  British  frigate  Dart- 
mouth and  two  English  armed  schooners.  Believing 
that  they  were  in  the  vicinity  of  a  nest  of  pirates,  Lieu- 


1825-1828.  CUTTING  OUT   THE   FEDERAL.  41 

tenant  McKeever  entered  into  an  arrangement  for  the 
co-operation  of  the  boats  of  the  frigate,  on  condition 
that  he  should  command  the  party.  While  they  were 
approaching  a  bay  on  the  afternoon  of  March  25th,  the 
masts  of  a  vessel  concealed  by  bushes  were  discovered, 
and  on  being  hailed  the  stranger  showed  Spanish  colors 
and  trained  her  guns  on  the  advancing  boats.  Leaving 
one  boat  on  guard  and  landing  with  the  rest  of  his  men, 
so  as  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  pirates  on  land,  Lieu- 
tenant McKeever  ordered  the  commander  of  the  vessel 
to  come  ashore.  After  much  hesitation  the  leader  of 
the  pirates  complied,  but  immediately  attempted  to 
run  away.  In  the  meantime  the  men  in  the  boat  on 
guard  had  boarded  the  piratical  vessel,  and  after  a 
stubborn  resistance  overpowered  the  pirates,  their  loss 
being  eight  killed  and  nineteen  taken  prisoners.  The 
prize  carried  two  6- pounders  and  four  swivels,  and  was 
manned  by  thirty-live  men.  Numerous  bales  of  Amer- 
ican merchandise  were  found  concealed  in  the  bushes 
on  shore  and  also  in  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  The 
schooner  was  sailing  under  a  forged  Spanish  commis- 
sion. On  the  following  day  Lieutenant  McKeever 
chased  a  fore-and-aft  rigged  boat  on  shore,  the  crew 
escaping  to  the  woods. 

This  practically  ended  the  active  operations  in  the 
West  Indies,  but,  in  order  to  impress  the  lesson  on  the 
minds  of  evil  doers,  a  squadron  was  maintained  in  those 
waters  for  several  years,  and  in  December,  1828,  oc- 
curred an  incident  that  showed  the  necessity  for  it.  In 
this  year  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Erie,  Master-Com- 
mandant Daniel  Turner,  was  ordered  to  convey  General 
William  Henry  Harrison,  minister  to  the  United  States 
of  Colombia,  to  that  country.  Touching  at  the  island 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  Master-Commandant  Turner  met 
the  privateer  Federal,  belonging  to  Buenos  Ay  res,  and 
learned  that  she  had  recently  captured  an  American 
vessel  under  the  plea  that  she  had  Spanish  property 
aboard.  The  governor  of  the  island  was  asked  to  sur- 


42 


SUPPRESSION   OF  PIRACY.  1828-1832. 


render  the  Federal,  which  had  run  under  the  guns  of 
the  fort,  and  on  his  refusing  to  do  so  a  boat  party,  led 
by  First-Lieutenant  Josiah  Tattnall,  of  the  Erie,  was 
sent  against  the  privateer.  Setting  out  on  a  dark  night, 
and  favored  by  occasional  rain  squalls,  the  Americans 
pulled  with  muffled  oars  into  the  harbor  unobserved 
and  carried  the  Federal  with  little  opposition.  Some 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  tripping  the  anchor,  and 
during  the  delay  the  fort  opened  a  heavy  but  ill-directed 
fire.  The  privateer  was  finally  got  under  way,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  was  brought  safely  out  of  the  harbor. 
No  loss  was  sustained  on  either  side.  The  Federal  was 
sent  to  Pensacola. 

Four  years  after  this  (August  10,  1832)  while  cruis- 
ing off  Matamoros  in  command  of  the  Grampus,  Lieu- 
tenant Tattnall  learned  that  the  merchant  vessel  Wil- 
liam A.  Turner,  of  New  York,  had  been  plundered 
the  day  before  by  the  Mexican  war  schooner  Monte- 
zuma.  Meeting  the  Montezuma  off  the  bar  of  Tam- 
pico  a  few  days  later,  Lieutenant  Tattnall  captured 
her  within  sight  of  the  Mexican  forts  and  several  of 
their  cruisers,  and  secured  seventy-six  prisoners.  The 
prize  carried  three  guns,  one  of  them  mounted  on  a 
pivot.  As  cholera  broke  out  in  the  Grampus  about 
this  time,  Lieutenant  Tattnall  landed  his  prisoners  and 
made  for  Pensacola,  where  his  ship  was  thoroughly 
cleaned.  Returning  to  Tampico,  he  heard  that  the 
Mexicans  were  detaining  in  that  port  an  American 
vessel  laden  with  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
specie,  and,  being  anxious  to  secure  the  money,  the 
Mexicans  got  up  a  pretext  for  detaining  her,  and  held 
her  under  the  guns  of  the  fort.  Availing  himself  of  a 
favorable  night,  the  American  commander  headed  a 
boat  attack  and  succeeded  in  bringing  the  merchant- 
man out  of  the  harbor. 

Not  only  was  the  navy  active  in  suppressing  piracy 
in  the  West  Indies,  but  in  the  Mediterranean  also  our 
cruisers  gave  material  assistance  in  running  down  the 


1832.  THREATENING  NAPLES.  43 

buccaneers.  During  the  struggle  of  Greece  for  inde- 
pendence from  Turkey  several  of  the  Greek  war  ves- 
sels perpetrated  outrages  on  merchantmen  of  neutral 
nations,  and  on  May  29,  1825,  an  American  vessel  from 
Boston  was  seized  by  one  of  their  privateers.  In  1827 
Lieutenant  Louis  M.  Goldsborough  (afterward  rear- 
admiral),  while  in  command  of  four  boats  and  thirty- 
five  men  of  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  Porpoise, 
recaptured  after  a  desperate  struggle  the  English  brig 
Comet,  which  was  in  the  possession  of  Greek  pirates. 
Lieutenant  John  A.  Carr  singled  out  the  pirate  chief 
and  killed  him  with  his  own  hand.  One  of  the  Ameri- 
cans was  killed  in  this  attack,  while  many  of  the 
pirates  were  exterminated.  Several  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean powers  thanked  Lieutenant  Goldsborough  for 
this  affair. 

During  the  reign  of  Joseph  Bonaparte  and  Murat 
in  Naples  (1809-'12)  a  number  of  American  vessels 
were  confiscated  by  the  Neapolitans,  and  shortly  after 
the  War  of  1812  Captain  Daniel  Patterson  was  or- 
dered to  assist  the  American  consul  at  Naples,  John 
Nelson,  in  collecting  two  million  dollars  indemnity 
money.  The  first  demand  of  the  consul  was  haugh- 
tily rejected.  A  few  days  afterward  the  44-gun  frig- 
ate Brandywine  sailed  into  the  beautiful  harbor  of 
Naples.  The  demand  for  indemnity  was  then  renewed, 
but  only  to  be  treated  as  the  first.  In  a  few  days  the 
44-gun  frigate  United  States  joined  the  Brandywine 
at  Naples,  and  four  days  afterward  the  Concord,  also 
dropped  anchor  in  that  harbor.  The  Bourbon  Govern- 
ment now  began  drilling  troops,  and  made  great  prep- 
arations for  resisting  the  expected  bombardment,  but 
it  still  refused  to  pay  the  claim.  Two  days  after  the 
Concord's  arrival  the  John  Adams  appeared  in  the 
harbor  and  greatly  added  to  the  excitement  in  the 
town.  Finally,  on  the  appearance  of  two  more  Ameri- 
can war  ships  the  Neapolitans  yielded. 


CHAPTER  III. 

QUALLA    BATTOO. 

Ox  the  7th  of  February,  1831,  the  American  mer- 
chant vessel  Friendship,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  commanded 
by  Mr.  Endicott  and  manned  by  fourteen  men,  was 
lying  at  anchor  off  the  Malay  town  of  Qualla  Battoo, 
on  the  northwestern  coast  of  Sumatra,  taking  in  a  cargo 
of  pepper.  As  the  place  was  about  four  degrees  north 
of  the  equator,  the  weather  was  hot  and  sultry,  and 
the  Americans  found  that  the  least  physical  exertion 
was  attended  with  great  exhaustion.  On  the  day  in 
question  there  was  scarcely  any  breeze,  and  the  sun 
beat  down  on  the  deck  of  the  Friendship  with  over- 
powering force,  seeming  to  cause  the  planks  to  warp 
and  the  oil  to  ooze  from  the  seams  and  the  rigging. 
Even  the  natives  employed  in  loading  the  ship  per- 
formed their  tasks  with  more  than  ordinary  indolence 
and  listlessness.  As  there  was  no  harbor  at  this  place, 
the  Friendship  lay  about  half  a  mile  off  the  town,  ex- 
posed to  the  open  sea,  and  carried  on  trade  with  the 
natives  by  means  of  boats.  At  this  part  of  the  coast 
the  island  rises  abruptly  out  of  the  water  in  bold  head- 
lands and  precipitous  ridges,  which  culminate,  a  few 
miles  inland,  in  the  lofty  Bukit  Barisan  mountain 
range,  seven  thousand  to  ten  thousand  feet  high,  while 
within  sight  of  Qnalla  Battoo  the  peak  of  Mount  Be- 
rapi  holds  its  proud  crest  twelve  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea.  Luxuriant  vegetation  and  dense  forests  come 
down  to  the  water's  edge  in  many-hued  verdure,  and, 
extending  along  the  coast  in  both  directions  as  far  as 

44 


1831.  ATTACK  ON  THE   FRIENDSHIP.  45 

the  eye  can  reach,  present  a  scene  of  enchanting  tropical 
loveliness. 

For  many  miles  along  the  coast  a  tremendous  surf 
beats  unceasingly  upon  the  beach.  Assuming  form  a 
great  distance  from  the  shore,  it  gradually  increases  in 
volume,  and  moving  rapidly  landward  until  it  attains  a 
height  of  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  it  falls  like  a  cascade, 
nearly  perpendicularly,  on  the  shore  with  a  tremendous 
roar,  which  on  a  still  night  can  be  heard  many  miles 
up  the  country.  None  but  the  most  experienced  na- 
tive boatmen  dared  to  venture  in  it,  and  when  trading 
vessels  stopped  at  Qnalla  Battoo  they  invariably  sent 
their  boats  ashore  in  charge  of  Malays.  Even  then  a 
landing  could  be  effected  only  at  the  entrance  of  the 
swift  mountain  streams  that  made  their  way  to  the  sea, 
breaking  gaps  here  and  there  in  the  line  of  foam  that 
girded  the  western  coast  of  Sumatra.  At  Qnalla  Bat- 
too  a  turbulent  stream  tumbled  through  the  town,  and 
meeting  the  surf  it  melted  a  comparatively  smooth  pas- 
sage through  the  breakers  to  the  open  sea.  The  pepper, 
which  was  the  chief  article  of  commerce  at  this  place, 
was  grown  on  the  high  table-lands  some  miles  from 
the  coast,  and  was  brought  down  to  the  sea  on  bamboo 
rafts,  the  navigation  of  which  along  the  tortuous  moun- 
tain streams  and  dangerous  rapids  was  a  feat  requiring 
no  little  skill  and  hardihood. 

On  the  day  the  Friendship  lay  off  Qualla  Battoo  a 
light  haze  rendered  the  beach  somewhat  indistinct,  but 
well  knowing  the  treacherous  and  warlike  disposition 
of  the  natives  the  Americans  in  the  ship  maintained 
an  unusually  sharp  lookout.  According  to  custom, 
the  boats  of  the  Friendship  had  been  placed  in  charge 
of  Malays  to  be  navigated  through  the  surf.  A  large 
quantity  of  pepper  had  been  purchased,  and  Mr.  En- 
dicott,  with  his  second  mate,  John  Barry,  and  four  sea- 
men, were  on  shore  at  the  trading  depot,  a  short  distance 
up  the  river,  superintending  the  weighing  of  the  pep- 
per and  seeing  that  it  was  properly  stowed  away  in  the 


46  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1831. 

boats  so  that  the  salt  water  could  not  reach  it.  The 
first  mate  and  the  remainder  of  the  crew  were  aboard 
the  Friendship  ready  to  receive  the  boats  and  take 
aboard  their  cargoes.  After  the  first  boat  had  received 
its  freight  at  the  trading  post  it  was  manned  by  na- 
tive seamen  and  rowed  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  but 
instead  of  putting  directly  to  sea,  as  it  should  have 
done,  Mr.  Endicott— who  had  remained  at  the  trading 
post,  keeping  a  careful  eye  on  all  that  was  going  on — 
noticed  that  the  boat  had  run  ashore  and  had  taken 
aboard  more  men.  Supposing  that  the  Malays  in 
charge  of  the  boat  required  additional  help  to  get 
through  the  unexpectedly  heavy  surf,  Mr.  Endicott 
did  not  feel  alarmed,  and  continued  weighing  out  pep- 
per for  the  second  boat  load.  He  was  sufficiently  on 
the  alert,  however,  to  detail  two  of  his  men  to  watch 
the  progress  of  the  boat  toward  the  Friendship  and 
order  them  to  report  anything  that  was  out  of  the 
usual  course. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Malays  in  the  first  boat,  in- 
stead of  taking  aboard  additional  seamen  to  help  them 
through  the  surf,  as  the  Americans  at  the  trading  sta- 
tion had  supposed,  exchanged  places  with  an  armed 
body  of  warriors,  double  the  number  of  the  boat's 
crew.  Then,  standing  boldly  to  the  surf,  the  warriors 
concealed  their  weapons  while  the  boat  continued  on 
its  way  toward  the  unsuspecting  merchantman.  The 
first  mate  of  the  Friendship  noticed  an  unusual  num- 
ber of  men  in  the  boat,  but  he,  like  Mr.  Endicott,  sup- 
posed that  the  surf  had  increased  in  violence,  and  that 
an  additional  number  was  necessary  to  pull  through  it. 
Consequently  the  Malays  were  allowed  to  come  along- 
side, and  when  they  had  made  fast  to  the  Friendship's 
gangway  the  larger  part  of  them  clambered  over  the 
side  and  gained  the  deck,  concealing  their  short  dag- 
gers in  their  clothing.  Ever  fearful  of  treachery,  the 
first  mate  of  the  Friendship  endeavored  to  prevent  so 
many  Malays  from  coming  aboard,  but,  affecting  not 


1831.  MURDER  OP  AMERICAN   SEAMEN.  47 

to  understand  his  words  or  gestures,  they  continued  to 
press  over  the  side  until  more  than  twenty  of  them 
were  on  deck.  In  keeping  with  their  treacherous  in- 
stincts, they,  instead  of  beginning  an  attack  on  the 
Americans,  whom  they  outnumbered  three  to  one,  im- 
mediately scattered  to  different  parts  of  the  vessel  and 
pretended  to  be  absorbed  with  wonderment  at  her 
guns,  rigging  and  equipment.  Somewhat  relieved  by 
their  apparently  harmless  curiosity,  the  mate  allowed 
them  to  remain,  while  he  and  his  men  devoted  their  at- 
tention to  getting  the  boat  load  of  pepper  aboard  and 
stowing  it  in  the  hold. 

While  he  was  thus  busily  engaged  several  of  the 
Malays  drew  near  and  affected  interest  in  the  process. 
Seizing  a  favorable  moment,  they,  with  a  swift,  catlike 
motion  for  which  they  were  celebrated,  drove  their 
daggers  hilt  deep  into  the  mate's  back.  He  turned 
quickly  around  and  attempted  to  defend  himself,  but 
he  had  been  mortally  wounded,  and  falling,  upon  him 
with  the  fierceness  of  tigers,  the  Malays  soon  dis- 
patched him.  Observing  the  treacherous  deed,  five  of 
the  American  sailors  made  a  rush  to  assist  the  mate, 
but  they  were  set  upon  by  the  other  Malays  in  the  ship 
and  two  were  instantly  killed,  while  the  other  three 
were  made  prisoners  and  reserved  for  a  horrible  fate. 
The  remaining  four  sailors  in  the  Friendship,  seeing 
that  it  would  be  useless  to  contend  against  such  num- 
bers, jumped  overboard  and  struck  out  for  the  land. 
They  soon  discovered,  however,  that  the  attack  was  a 
widespread  conspiracy,  for  whenever  they  were  raised 
on  the  crest  of  a  wave  and  caught  glimpses  of  the  beach 
they  saw  that  it  was  lined  with  armed  warriors,  who 
were  shouting  and  brandishing  their  weapons.  Seeing 
that  it  was  worse  than  useless  to  attempt  to  land,  the 
four  swimmers  held  a  brief  consultation  and  then 
changed  their  course  to  a  promontory,  where  the  na- 
tives could  not  follow  them,  and  after  a  swim  of  sev- 
eral miles  they  reached  a  place  of  comparative  safety. 


4g  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1831. 

As  soon  as  the  treacherous  Malays  got  complete  pos- 
session of  the  ship  they  clambered  up  the  bulwarks 
and  rigging,  and  by  gesticulating  with  their  arms  and 
weapons  conveyed  the  news  of  the  capture  to  their 
confederates  on  shore,  and  in  a  short  time  several 
boat  loads  of  the  miscreants  had  put  off  through  the 
surf,  and  on  gaining  the  decks  of  the  merchant  vessel 
began  to  rifle  her  of  every  article  of  value.  Having 
taken  everything  out  of  her,  even  to  the  copper  bolts 
in  the  timbers,  they  cut  her  cables  and  attempted  to 
run  her  ashore,  hoping  to  break  her  up  and  secure  the 
iron  in  her. 

In  the  meantime  the  two  seamen  who  had  been  de- 
tailed by  Mr.  Endicott  to  watch  the  boat,  observing  the 
excitement  on  board  the  Friendship  and  the  men 
plunging  into  the  sea,  reported  the  matter  to  their 
commander,  who  immediately  inferred  that  a  treacher- 
ous assault  had  been  made  on  his  ship.  Hastily  order- 
ing his  men  into  the  second  boat,  which  was  waiting 
at  the  trading  depot,  he  hurriedly  pulled  down  the 
river  in  hopes  of  getting  through  the  surf  and  possibly 
regaining  possession  of  the  ship  before  his  retreat  was 
cut  off.  He  left  the  trading  post  not  a  minute  too 
soon,  for  the  natives  on  shore  rushed  for  the  boat  and 
endeavored  to  intercept  it;  but  by  dint  of  hard  row- 
ing, and  after  running  a  gantlet  of  missiles  from  both 
banks,  the  Americans  managed  to  reach  the  mouth  of 
the  river.  Although  Mr.  Endicott  had  escaped  the 
savage  foe  on  land,  he  found  that  he  was  confronted 
with  the  probability  of  perishing  in  the  surf.  At  this 
critical  moment  a  friendly  Malay  named  Po  Adam, 
rajah  of  the  neighboring  tribe  of  Pulu  Kio,  who  had 
come  to  Qualla  Battoo  in  his  armed  coasting  schooner, 
deserted  his  vessel,  as  he  feared  the  attack  might  be 
extended  to  him,  and  swam  to  the  American  boat. 
When  Mr.  Endicott  saw  him  he  exclaimed,  "What, 
Adam,  you  come  too?"  to  which  the  Malay  replied  in 
broken  English.  "Yes,  captain.  If  they  kill  you  they 


1831.  A  GALLANT  RECAPTURE.  49 

must  kill  me  first."  By  the  aid  of  Po  Adam  the 
American  boat  managed  to  get  through  the  breakers, 
but  just  as  it  had  cleared  the  line  of  surf  it  was  met  by 
several  Malay  war  canoes  filled  with  warriors,  who  en- 
deavored to  cut  off  her  retreat.  So  precipitate  had 
been  the  flight  of  the  Americans  that  they  forgot  to 
bring  their  firearms  with  them,  and  were  now  defense- 
less. Po  Adam,  however,  had  a  saber,  and  by  put- 
ting on  a  bold  front  and  by  a  valorous  flourishing  of 
the  sword  he  kept  the  warriors  at  a  distance,  and  the 
boat  got  to  sea  unmolested. 

Finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  recapture  his  ves- 
sel, Mr.  Endicott,  after  picking  up  the  four  seamen 
who  had  jumped  overboard,  steered  for  Muckie,  a 
small  town  twenty  miles  to  the  south,  in  search  of  as- 
sistance. He  reached  the  place  late  at  night  and  found 
three  American  merchant  vessels— a  ship  and  two  brigs- 
anchored  there,  the  commanders  of  which,  on  hearing 
of  the  treacherous  attack  on  Mr.  Endicott's  vessel,  re- 
solved to  attempt  her  recapture.  On  hundreds  of  occa- 
sions, which  the  historian  has  failed  to  record,  the 
American  merchant  tar  has  proved  himself  to  be  a 
brave  and  daring  sailor,  and  the  case  in  hand  was  no 
exception.  On  hearing  of  the  dastardly  murder  of 
their  fellow-countrymen,  the  commanders  of  the  three 
American  merchant  vessels  promptly  got  under  way, 
and  appeared  before  Qualla  Battoo  on  the  following 
day.  To  the  demand  for  the  restoration  of  the  Friend- 
ship the  rajah  of  Qualla  Battoo  insolently  replied, 
"Take  her  if  you  can,"  upon  which  the  American 
vessels  ran  as  close  to  the  land  as  the  shoal  would 
allow,  and  opened  a  brisk  fire  with  what  guns  they 
could  bring  to  bear.  In  those  days  of  piracy  and 
outrage  on  the  high  seas  all  well-equipped  merchant 
vessels  carried  a  considerable  armament,  and  their 
crews  were  as  carefully  trained  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms as  in  the  handling  of  sails.  The  fire  opened  by 
the  three  American  merchantmen  was  no  child's  play, 
49 


50  QtJALLA  BATTOO.  1831-1832. 

as  the  Malays  in  the  Friendship  soon  found  out,  and 
notwithstanding  that  they  returned  it  with  consider- 
able spirit  and  the  forts  at  Qualla  Battoo  (which 
mounted  several  heavy  guns)  opened  with  effect,  they 
soon  discovered  that  they  were  at  a  disadvantage.  Im- 
patient at  the  prospect  of  a  protracted  bombardment, 
the  three  American  commanders  determined  on  the 
more  expeditious  method  of  a  boat  attack,  although 
none  of  them  had  a  crew  that  numbered  over  fifteen 
men,  and  the  Malays  had  re-enforced  their  comrades 
in  the  Friendship.  Accordingly,  three  boat  loads  of 
armed  men  put  off  from  the  merchant  vessels  and 
made  a  dash  for  the  Friendship  in  gallant  style.  The 
Malays  at  first  opened  an  ill-directed  fire,  but  they 
soon  became  panic-stricken  at  the  steady  advance  of 
the  American  boats,  and  plunged  into  the  sea  and 
made  for  the  beach,  where  they  were  assisted  ashore 
by  their  friends.  On  regaining  possession  of  the  ship 
Captain  Endicott  found  that  she  had  been  rifled  of 
everything  of  value,  including  twelve  thousand  dollars 
in  specie,  and  this  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  voy- 
age. The  total  loss  to  the  owners  of  the  ship  was 
forty  thousand  dollars. 

When  the  news  of  the  outrage  on  the  Friendship 
reached  the  United  States,  the  44-gun  frigate  Potomac, 
Captain  John  Downes,  lay  in  New  York  harbor  wait- 
ing to  convey  Martin  Van  Buren,  the  newly  ap- 
pointed minister  to  the  court  of  St.  James,  to  England; 
but  hearing  of  the  affair  on  the  coast  of  Sumatra,  Pres- 
ident Jackson  promptly  ordered  the  Potomac  to  sail 
for  the  scene  of  violence  and  visit  summary  vengeance 
on  the  piratical  Malays.  Captain  Downes  got  under 
way  in  August,  and  arrived  off  the  coast  of  Sumatra 
early  in  February,  1832.  f  When  the  Potomac  drew 
near  the  scene  of  the  outrage  Captain  Downes  dis- 
guised his  ship,  as  he  was  anxious  to  attack  the  Qualla 
Battooans  before  they  knew  of  the  arrival  of  an  Ameri- 
can war  ship  in  that  part  of  the  world.  The  guns  of 


1832.  THE  POTOMAC   OFF  QUALLA  BATTOO.  51 

the  frigate  were  run  in,  the  ports  closed,  the  topmasts 
housed,  the  sails  rigged  in  a  slovenly  manner,  and 
every  precaution  taken  to  give  the  frigate  the  appear- 
ance of  a  merchant  craft.  In  this  guise  the  Potomac, 
under  Danish  -colors,  appeared  off  Qualla  Battoo,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1832,  just  a  year  after  the  treacherous  attack 
on  the  Friendship.  Scarcely  had  she  dropped  anchor 
when  a  sailboat  rounded  a  point  of  land  and  made  for 
her.  When  it  came  alongside  it  was  found  to  be  laden 
with  fish  and  manned  by  four  Malays  from  a  friendly 
tribe,  who  desired  to  sell  their  cargo.  Fearing  that 
these  men,  if  allowed  to  depart,  might  announce  the 
arrival  of  the  frigate  to  the  Qualla  Battooans,  Captain 
Downes  detained  them  on  board  until  after  the  at- 
tack. 

At  half  past  two  o'clock  the  whaleboat  was  sent 
toward  the  shore  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Shubrick  to  take  soundings.  The  men  in  the  boat 
were  dressed  as  the  boat  crew  of  an  Indiaman,  and  in 
case  they  came  to  a  parley  with  the  natives  Lieuten- 
ants Shubrick  and  Edson  were  to  impersonate  the  cap- 
tain and  supercargo  of  a  trading  vessel.  As  the  natives 
lined  the  shore  in  great  numbers  and  assumed  a  hostile 
attitude,  no  attempt  was  made  to  land,  and  having  sat- 
isfied himself  with  the  situation  of  the  river,  Lieuten- 
ant Shubrick  returned  to  the  ship  at  half  past  four 
o'clock.  Everything  now  being  in  readiness,  Captain 
Downes  announced  that  the  boats  would  leave  the  ship 
at  midnight,  and  from  five  o'clock  to  that  time  the  men 
selected  for  the  expedition  were  at  liberty  to  employ 
their  time  as  they  pleased.  As  the  attack  was  likely 
to  keep  them  late  on  the  following  day,  many  of  the 
men  improved  the  opportunity  to  sleep,  using  gun 
carriages,  coils  of  rope  and  sails  for  pillows.  Some  of 
the  more  restless,  however,  in  the  face  of  the  impend- 
ing conflict,  found  it  impossible  to  sleep.  They  were 
scattered  about  the  ship  conversing  in  low  tones  with 
their  messmates,  placing  in  trusty  hands  some  token 


52  QUALLA   BATTOO.  1832. 

of  affection,  such  as  a  watch  or  a  Bible,  to  be  delivered 
to  relatives  or  friends  in  case  they  fell. 

Promptly  at  midnight  all  hands  were  summoned  to 
quarters,  and  in  an  instant  the  gun  deck  was  swarming 
with  men,  some  with  weapons  in  their*  hands,  others 
girding  on  cutlasses,  and  all  hurrying  to  their  stations, 
while  the  boats  were  lowered  and  brought  along  the 
gangway  on  the  off  side  of  the  ship,  so  that  the  natives 
on  shore  could  not  discover  what  was  going  on,  even  if 
they  had  been  on  the  watch.  The  men  silently  and 
rapidly  descended  the  frigate's  side  and  took  their 
places,  and  as  each  boat  received  its  load  it  dropped 
astern  or  was  pulled  ahead  and  made  fast  to  the  lee 
boom  to  make  room  for  others.  The  debarkation  was 
made  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  nothing  breaking  the 
silence  of  the  hour  except  the  splashing  of  the  waves 
against  the  dark  hull  of  the  frigate,  the  chafing  of  the 
cables  in  the  hawse  holes,  the  whispered  command  of 
the  officers  as  the  boats  came  to  and  from  the  gang- 
way, or  the  muffled  rattle  of  the  oars  in  the  oarlocks  as 
the  boats  shoved  off  to  take  their  prescribed  positions. 
So  much  care  in  maintaining  silence,  however,  seemed 
unnecessary ;  for  the  roaring  surf,  which  even  at  the 
distance  of  three  miles  could  be  distinctly  heard 
aboard  the  ship,  would  have  drowned  all  noise. 

The  light  of  the  morning  star  was  just  discernible 
through  a  dense  mass  of  dark  clouds  resting  on  the 
eastern  horizon  when  the  order  was  given  to  shove  off 
and  make  for  the  land.  The  boats  formed  in  line,  and 
with  measured  stroke  stretched  out  for  the  beach. 
When  they  had  covered  about  a  third  of  the  distance 
"a  meteor  of  the  most  brilliant  hue  and  splendid 
rays,"  wrote  an  officer  of  the  Potomac,  "shot  across 
the  heaven  immediately  above  us,  lighting  the  broad 
expanse  with  its  beams  from  west  to  east.  We  hailed 
it  as  an  earnest  of  the  victory  and  the  bright  augury  of 
future  fame."  The  bright  star  in  the  east  had  shone 
fully  two  hours  before  the  boats  gained  the  landing 


1832.  LANDING  SAILORS  AND   MARINES.  53 

place,  and  as  the  keels  of  the  boats  grated  on  the  beach 
the  men  jumped  out  and  hastened  to  their  positions, 
each  division  forming  by  itself.  The  boats,  with  enough 
men  to  man  them,  were  directed  to  remain  together  just 
outside  of  the  surf  until  further  orders. 

No  delay  was  allowed  in  beginning  the  march. 
Lieutenant  Edson  and  Lieutenant  Tenett  led  the  van 
with  their  company  of  marines.  John  Barry,  second 
mate  of  the  Friendship^  who  had  come  out  in  the  Poto- 
mac as  a  master's  mate,  now  acted  as  a  guide.  Lieu- 
tenant Ingersoll  followed  the  van  with  the  first  division 
of  seamen,  Lieutenant  Hoff's  division  of  musketeers  and 
pikemen  then  came,  and  after  this  Lieutenant  Pinkham 
with  the  third  division,  while  Acting  Sailing- Master 
Totten  and  a  few  men  brought  up  the  rear  with  the 
6-pounder,  called  "Betsy  Baker."  After  marching 
along  the  beach  some  distance  the  column  turned 
abruptly  inland  and  struck  into  the  dense  jungle.  The 
fusileers,  "a  company  of  fine,  stout  and  daring  fel- 
lows,"1 now  distributed  themselves  in  advance  and  on 
each  flank  of  the  little  army,  to  guard  against  ambus- 
cades. 

Lieutenant  Hoff  and  three  midshipmen,  with  the 
second  division  of  musketeers  and  pikemen,  then 
wheeled  off  to  the  left  with  his  division  and  were  soon 
lost  to  view  in  the  thick  foliage.  He  had  been  ordered 
to  attack  the  fort  on  the  northern  edge  of  the  town. 
As  soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of  this  stronghold  the 
Malays  opened  a  sharp  fusillade  with  cannon,  muskets, 
spears,  javelins,  and  arrows.  The  Americans  returned 
the  fire  and  then  made  a  rush  for  the  gate  of  the  stock- 
ade, and,  bursting  it  open,  engaged  the  enemy  in  a 
short  but  fierce  hand-to-hand  encounter,  in  which  the 
pikes  and  cutlasses  of  the  seamen  were  employed  to 
advantage.  The  open  space  within  the  palisade  was 
soon  cleared,  but  the  Malays  retreated  to  their  citadel 

1  Journal  of  one  of  the  Potomac's  officers. 


54  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1832. 

on  the  high  platform,  hauling  up  the  ladder  leading  to 
it,  and  for  two  hours  fought  with  great  bravery.  Im- 
patient at  the  delay,  Lieutenant  Hoff  directed  his  men 
to  tear  up  some  of  the  poles  forming  the  stockade  and 
improvise  ladders  with  them.  Having  done  this,  the 
men  made  a  rush  for  the  citadel  from  opposite  direc- 
tions, and,  placing  their  ladders  against  the  high  plat- 
form, clambered  up  and  made  short  work  of  the  des- 
perate defenders. 

Eajah  Maley  Mohammed,  one  of  the  most  influen- 
tial chiefs  on  the  western  coast  of  Sumatra,  com- 
manded this  fort,  and  fought  with  the  ferocity  of  a 
tiger.  After  receiving  numerous  bayonet  thrusts  and 
musket  balls  he  fell,  but  even  in  his  death  throes  he 
continued  to  brandish  his  saber  and  to  inflict  injuries 
on  the  Americans  around  him,  until  a  marine  finally 
dispatched  him.  But  as  soon  as  the  rajah  fell,  a 
woman,  who  from  the  richness  of  her  dress  was  sup- 
posed to  be  his  wife,  seized  his  saber  and  wielded  it 
with  such  energy  that  the  Americans  fell  back,  loath 
to  make  war  against  a  female.  She  rushed  at  them 
and  severely  wounded  a  sailor  on  the  head  with  a 
blow  of  her  saber,  and  with  catlike  dexterity  she 
aimed  another  blow  at  him  which  nearly  severed  the 
thumb  from  his  left  hand.  Before  she  could  repeat 
the  stroke  she  fainted  from  loss  of  blood  from  a 
wound  previously  received,  and,  falling  upon  the 
hard  pavement,  soon  died.  At  this  fort  twelve  of  the 
Malays  were  killed  and  many  times  that  number  were 
wounded. 

While  this  fight  had  been  going  on  at  the  northern 
fort,  Lieutenants  Edson  and  Tenett,  with  the  marines 
and  the  first  division  of  musketeers  and  pikemen  under 
Lieutenant  Ingersoll,  had  discovered  the  fort  in  the 
middle  of  the  town,  and  after  a  short  and  bloody  con- 
flict carried  it  by  storm  and  put  the  enemy  to  the 
sword.  In  this  attack  one  of  the  marines  was  killed, 
one  dangerously  wounded,  and  several  slightly  wound- 


1832.  DESPERATE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  MALAYS.  55 

ed.  The  Malays  sustained  greater  loss  here  than  at 
the  first  fort.  It  was  now  daylight. 

The  first  division,  under  Lieutenant  Pinkham,  had 
been  ordered  to  attack  the  fort  in  the  rear  of  the  town, 
but  it  had  been  so  skillfully  concealed  in  the  jungle 
that  Mr.  Barry  was  unable  to  find  it,  and  the  division 
retraced  its  steps  and  joined  the  fusileers  under  Lieu- 
tenant Shubrick  and  the  6-pounder  commanded  by 
Acting  Sailing-Master  Totten,  in  an  attack  upon  the 
most  formidable  fort  of  the  town,  which  was  on  the 
bank  of  the  river  near  the  beach.  Here  the  principal 
rajah  of  Qualla  Bat  too  had  collected  his  bravest  war- 
riors, who  announced  their  determination  to  die  rather 
than  surrender  ;  and  they  kept  their  word.  The  entire 
force  of  the  division  advancing  to  attack  this  strong- 
hold was  eighty-five  men.  As  soon  as  the  Americans 
came  in  sight  the  Malays  opened  a  hot  fire  of  musketry, 
and  followed  it  up  with  a  rapid  discharge  of  their  swiv- 
els, which,  as  usual,  were  mounted  in  a  commanding 
position  on  the  high  platform.  "The  natives  were 
brave,  and  fought  with  a  fierceness  bordering  on  desper- 
ation," wrote  one  of  the  Potomac's  officers  who  was  in 
the  division.  "They  would  not  yield  while  a  drop  of 
their  savage  blood  warmed  their  bosoms  or  while  they 
had  strength  to  wield  a  weapon,  fighting  with  that 
undaunted  firmness  which  is  the  characteristic  of  bold 
and  determined  spirits,  and  displaying  such  an  utter 
carelessness  of  life  as  would  have  been  honored  in  a 
better  cause.  Instances  of  the  bravery  of  these  people 
were  numerous,  so  much  so  that  were  I  to  give  you  a 
detail  of  each  event  my  description  would  probably 
become  tiresome." 

The  Americans  returned  the  enemy's  fire  with  a 
brisk  discharge  of  their  muskets,  and  a  sharp  fusillade 
was  maintained  for  some  time,  but  with  little  effect 
upon  the  stout  barricades.  Anxious  to  complete  the 
work  of  destruction  as  soon  as  possible,  Lieutenant 
Shubrick  left  a  body  of  men  in  front  of  the  fort  to  en- 


5g  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1832. 

gage  the  attention  of  the  Malays,  while  he,  with  the  fu- 
slleers  and  the  "Betsy  Baker,"  made  a  detour  through 
the  woods  to  gain  the  rear  of  the  fort  unobserved.  The 
manoeuvre  was  successful,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the 
flanking  party  reached  the  river  bank  behind  the  cita- 
del. Here  three  large,  heavily  armed  schooners  (the 
largest  being  the  boat  they  had  captured  from  Po 
Adam  the  year  before),  employed  by  the  Malays  in 
their  piratical  excursions,  were  discovered  anchored 
in  the  river  and  filled  with  warriors  awaiting  a  favor- 
able opportunity  to  take  a  hand  in  the  fray,  and  acting 
as  a  cover  to  the  rear  of  the  fort.  Before  the  pirates 
realized  it  Lieutenant  Shubrick  had  opened  on  them 
with  his  6-pounder  and  raked  the  schooners  fore  and 
aft.  This  was  followed  up  with  a  well-directed  fire  of 
musketry  from  the  fusileers,  which  killed  or  wounded 
a  great  number  and  caused  the  surviving  Malays  to 
jump  overboard  and  escape  to  the  woods.  The  natives, 
however,  succeeded  in  getting  sail  on  the  largest  of  the 
schooners,  and  in  a  short  time  they  ran  her  up  the 
river,  where  she  was  out  of  gunshot. 

Unknown  to  the  Americans,  Po  Adam  had  sighted 
the  Potomac  some  days  before,  and  believing  her  to  be 
an  American  frigate,  he  had  collected  a  band  of  his 
warriors,  and,  stealing  along  the  coast,  concealed  him- 
self in  the  woods  on  the  outskirts  of  Qualla  Battoo. 
When  he  saw  the  marines  and  seamen  land  and  attack 
the  town  he  drew  nearer  and  lay  in  ambush  with  his 
men  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  awaiting  an  oppor- 
tunity to  attack.  Po  Adam  noticed  the  Malays  in  the 
schooner,  and  when  they  moored  her  to  the  south  bank 
so  as  to  be  safe  from  further  attack  by  the  Americans, 
he  rushed  from  his  place  of  concealment  with  his  men, 
boarded  the  schooner,  killed  five  of  the  Qualla  Bat- 
tooans,  and  put  the  remainder  to  flight.  By  this  time 
it  was  broad  daylight. 

Having  completed  the  circumvallation  of  the  rajah's 
citadel,  Lieutenant  Shubrick  gave  the  signal  for  a 


1832.  A  FIGHT   TO   THE  DEATH.  57 

simultaneous  assault  on  front  and  rear,  when  the 
Americans  attacked  the  outer  stockade,  and  by  hack- 
ing with  axes  succeeded  in  wrenching  the  massive  gate 
from  its  place.  The  Malays  were  prepared  for  the  at- 
tack, and  the  first  American  who  exposed  himself  was 
shot  through  the  brain,  and  three  others  fell,  wounded. 
Unmindful  of  this,  the  hardy  sailors  rushed  into  the 
large  open  space  within  the  palisades  and  drove  the 
Malays  to  the  high  platform,  where  they  made  their 
final  stand.  To  add  to  the  confusion,  the  stockade 
that  had  been  captured  by  the  division  under  Lieuten- 
ants Hoff  and  Edson  had  been  set  on  fire  in  pursuance 
of  orders,  and  by  this  time  the  flames  had  spread  and 
now  threatened  to  ingulf  both  the  Americans  and  the 
Malays.  Great  columns  of  smoke  rolled  up  while  the 
fire  and  blazing  sun  rendered  the  heat  almost  unen- 
durable. Scores  of  Malays  were  fleeing  through  the 
secret  passages  in  the  jungle,  carrying  such  articles  as 
they  esteemed  valuable,  while  beasts  and  reptiles,  dis- 
turbed by  the  heat,  were  making  their  way  through 
the  forest  in  all  directions.  Finding  that  they  were 
firing  at  a  disadvantage,  the  men  in  charge  of  the 
"Betsy  Baker"  seized  the  little  gun,  carried  it  to  an 
elevation  on  the  upper  side  of  the  fort,  and  reopened 
with  a  steady  and  well-directed  fire  of  grape  and  can- 
ister. Many  Malays  were  laid  low  ;  but  so  rapid  was 
the  fire  that  the  ammunition  was  soon  exhausted, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  send  to  the  boats  for  another 
supply. 

In  the  meantime  Lieutenants  Hoff  and  Edson,  hav- 
ing performed  the  task  allotted  to  them,  came  up  with 
their  divisions  and  joined  in  the  attack  on  the  principal 
fort.  They  were  ordered  to  take  a  position  between 
the  fort  and  the  water,  where  they  poured  in  an  effect- 
ive cross  fire  upon  the  doomed  pirates.  But  the  Ma- 
lays kept  up  a  brave  and  spirited  defense,  and  were 
still  shouting  to  the  Americans  in  broken  English  "  to 
come  and  take  them."  The  men  who  had  been  sent  to 


58  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1832. 

the  boats  for  more  ammunition  for  the  "Betsy  Baker" 
now  returned  with  ten  bags  containing  forty  musket 
balls  each.  So  eager  were  the  crew  of  this  gun  that  it 
was  now  overloaded,  and  at  the  third  discharge  it  was 
dismounted  and  the  carriage  rendered  useless  for  the 
remainder  of  the  action.  At  this  moment  the  flames 
in  the  central  fort,  which  had  been  captured  by  Lieu- 
tenant Edson,  reached  the  magazine,  and  it  blew  up 
with  tremendous  force.  Seeing  that  further  service 
could  not  be  derived  from  the  6-pounder,  Lieutenant 
Shubrick  ordered  a  general  assault  on  the  citadel,  and 
at  the  word  the  men  sprang  from  cover,  made  a  rush 
for  the  stockade,  and,  clambering  up  the  platform  in 
any  way  they  could,  overpowered  the  few  remaining 
Malays  and  put  them  to  the  sword,  and  soon  the 
American  flag  waved  from  the  platform  in  triumph. 

The  victorious  Americans  now  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  the  fort  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  which 
had  kept  up  an  annoying  fire  from  its  12-pounder,  but 
it  was  found  to  be  impracticable  to  ford  the  deep  and 
rapid  stream,  and  as  the  surf  was  growing  heavier 
every  minute,  Lieutenant  Shubrick  caused  the  bugle 
to  sound  the  retreat.  While  they  were  returning  to 
the  beach  a  sharp  and  well-sustained  fire  was  unex- 
pectedly opened  on  the  Americans  from  a  jungle.  It 
proved  to  be  the  fort  for  which  the  division  under 
Lieutenant  Pinkham  had  searched  in  vain.  The 
Americans  promptly  returned  the  fire  and  then  ad- 
vanced to  carry  the  fort  by  storm,  and  one  of  the  hot- 
test fights  of  the  day  ensued.  The  Malays  fought 
with  the  energy  of  despair,  but  in  a  short  time  were 
overpowered,  and  were  either  put  to  the  sword  or  es- 
caped in  the  jungle,  leaving  many  a  bloody  trail  on  the 
grass  as  evidence  of  their  punishment. 

The  Americans  then  reassembled  on  the  beach  and 
began  the  roll-call,  to  ascertain  their  casualties  and  to 
discover  if  any  had  been  left  in  the  jungle.  It  was 
found  that  two  men  had  been  killed  and  eleven  were 


BOMBARDING  QUALLA  BATTOO.  59 

wounded.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  and  wounded  were 
carefully  lifted  into  the  boats,  and  the  entire  expedi- 
re-embarked,  and  pushing  off  through  the  surf  pulled 
for  the  frigate.  Of  the  Malays,  over  one  hundred  were 
killed  and  two  hundred  wounded. 

Learning  that  a  number  of  Malays  had  gathered  in 
the  rear  of  the  town,  Captain  Downes,  at  noon  on  the 
following  day  (February  7th),  weighed  anchor  and 
stood  in  about  a  mile  from  the  shore  and  opened  a 
heavy  fire  on  the  fort  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river. 
Another  object  of  this  second  day's  attack  was  to  con- 
vince the  Qualla  Battooans  that  the  United  States  did 
possess  "ships  with  big  guns"  and  knew  how  to  use 
them.  The  rapid  discharge  of  the  Potomac's  long  32- 
pounders  appalled  the  natives,  for  they  had  never  be- 
fore heard  such  a  terrible  noise.  For  more  than  an 
hour  the  heavy  shot  from  the  frigate  plowed  their  way 
into  the  wooden  stockades,  carrying  death  and  destruc- 
tion in  their  path. 

At  a  quarter  past  one  o'clock  white  flags  began  to 
appear  at  different  points  along  the  beach,  and  the 
Potomac  ceased  firing,  and  about  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  a  native  boat  was  seen  making  its  way  through 
the  surf,  with  a  white  flag  at  the  bow,  pulling  for  the 
frigate.  By  seven  o'clock  it  came  alongside,  and  it  was 
learned  that  it  contained  messengers  from  the  surviv- 
ing rajahs  with  overtures  for  peace.  On  being  taken 
aboard  they  were  conducted  to  Captain  Downes,  and, 
bowing  themselves  to  the  deck  in  humble  submission, 
they  pleaded  for  peace  on  any  terms  "if  only  the  big 
guns  might  cease  their  lightning  and  thunder."  Cap- 
tain Downes  impressed  upon  the  envoys  the  enormity 
of  the  offense  of  the  Qualla  Battooans  in  attacking 
American  seamen,  and  assured  them  that  the  full 
power  of  the  United  States  Government  was  behind  the 
humblest  of  its  citizens  in  any  part  of  the  globe,  and 
that  any  future  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the  Malays 
toward  an  American  citizen  would  be  met  with  even 


gO  QUALLA  BATTOO.  1833-1838. 

greater  punishment  than  has  just  been  meted  out  to 
them.1 

Although  this  summary  vengeance  on  the  Qualla 
Battooans  had  a  salutary  effect  on  the  natives  of  this 
coast,  yet  it  required  another  bombardment  before  the 
lesson  was  fully  impressed  upon  their  minds.  On  the 
night  of  August  26,  1838,  while  the  American  trading 
ship  Eclipse,  Captain  Wilkins,  was  loading  with  pep- 
per at  a  village  called  Trabagan,  twelve  miles  from 
Muckie,  two  canoes  came  alongside  with  the  commod- 
ity. The  Malays  asked  for  permission  to  come  aboard, 
and  as  their  spokesman,  named  Ousso,  was  recognized 
by  the  second  mate  as  being  an  old  trader,  the  request 
was  granted.  In  pursuance  with  the  customary  cau- 
tion exercised  by  Americans  doing  business  with  these 
natives,  their  arms  were  taken  from  them  as  they  came 
over  the  side  of  the  ship  and  locked  up.  The  work  of 
weighing  the  pepper  then  went  on,  when  Ousso  re- 
proached the  Americans  for  locking  up  their  arms  as 
being  a  breach  of  good  faith  among  old  acquaintances, 
and  the  mate  very  foolishly  returned  the  weapons. 

Scarcely  had  this  been  done  when  one  of  the  natives 
approached  Captain  Wilkins  and  mortally  wounded 
him  in  the  back.  About  the  same  time  the  too  good- 
natured  mate  was  dangerously  injured  in  the  loins, 
while  some  of  the  crew  scrambled  up  the  rigging  and 
others  jumped  overboard.  The  cook,  who  had  been 
placed  in  irons  for  insubordination,  begged  for  his  life, 
promising  to  reveal  where  the  specie  and  a  quantity  of 
opium  were  kept.  Having  secured  this  plunder— the 

1  In  the  following  year  (July  28,  1833)  Captain  William  Bainbridge, 
the  hero  of  the  Constitution- Java  action,  died  at  Philadelphia.  After  the 
War  of  1812  he  was  twice  sent  to  the  Mediterranean  as  the  commanding 
officer  of  that  squadron,  having  for  his  flagship  the  74-gun  ship  of  the 
line  Independence  the  first  time,  and  the  74-gun  ship  of  the  line  Columbus 
when  he  assumed  command  in  1819.  On  his  deathbed  his  mind  dwelt  on 
the  sea.  and  shortly  before  he  died  he  called  for  his  sword  and  pistols.  As 
they  were  not  given  to  him,  he  raised  himself  up  by  a  great  effort  and 
shouted  for  all  hands  to  "  board  the  enemy ! " 


1838.      SECOND  BOMBARDMENT  OF  QUALLA  BATTOO.         61 

specie  amounting  to   eighteen   thousand  dollars— the 
natives  fled  with  the  cook. 

At  this  time  the  American  44-gun  frigate  Columbia 
and  the  corvette  John  Adams,  under  the  orders  of 
Commodore  George  C.  Reid,  were  making  a  cruise 
around  the  world.  Hearing  of  the  outrage  on  the 
Eclipse,  Reid  appeared  off  Qualla  Battoo  December  20, 
1838,  and  through  our  old  friend,  Po  Adam,  learned  that 
the  chief  of  the  Qualla  Battooans,  Po  Chute  Abdullah, 
had  received  two  thousand  dollars  of  the  stolen  money, 
and  that  one  of  the  murderers  was  harbored  there.  On 
the  failure  of  the  natives  to  deliver  the  money  or  the 
man,  Reid  bombarded  the  place.  He  then  proceeded  to 
Muckie,  where  more  of  the  money  and  the  murderers 
were.  As  the  natives  here  also  failed  to  give  satisfaction, 
that  place  was  bombarded,  a  detachment  of  men  was 
landed  and  the  place  destroyed.  Satisfied  with  meting 
out  this  punishment,  Reid  sailed  away  without  attack- 
ing Trabagan,  the  scene  of  the  outrage.  Returning  to 
Qualla  Battoo,  the  Americans  again  demanded  the 
money.  Po  Chute  Abdullah,  terrified  by  the  fate  of 
Muckie,  confessed  that  he  had  received  the  specie,  but 
declared  that  it  had  been  distributed  among  his  peo- 
ple and  he  could  not  get  it  back.  To  avoid  having  his 
settlement  destroyed,  he  promised  to  return  the  money 
at  a  specified  time.  Treaties  were  then  made  with  a 
number  of  chiefs  along  this  coast,  whereby  they  bound 
themselves  to  protect  traders  sailing  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CRUISING  AGAINST   SLAVERS. 

EARLY  in  the  century  the  United  States  entered  into 
an  arrangement  with  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  hardships  and 
dangers  to  which  our  officers  were  exposed  while  en- 
gaged in  this  service.  The  fever-laden  coast  made  it 
hazardous  for  white  men  to  approach.  To  be  assigned 
to  this  station  meant  death  to  many  a  gallant  tar,  the 
sick  lists  sometimes  including  half  the  ship's  company. 
Many  of  the  slave  ships  also  were  heavily  armed,  and 
being  manned  by  unusually  large  crews  they  were 
prepared  to  make  a  good  defense,  as  was  demonstrated 
on  more  than  one  occasion.  In  fact,  some  of  these 
slavers  became  out-and-out  pirates,  and  were  quite  as 
dangerous  to  merchantmen  as  to  negroes. 

After  the  War  of  1812  some  of  the  swift-sailing 
privateers  which  had  done  good  service  in  that  struggle 
were  turned  into  slavers,  as  their  great  speed  and  heavy 
armaments  gave  them  every  advantage.  It  was  cus- 
tomary for  these  vessels  to  sail  from  home  ports,  hav- 
ing on  board  alleged  Brazilian,  Spanish,  French  or 
Italian  passengers,  and  when  on  the  slave  coast  the 
crew  went  ashore  and  the  "passengers"  took  posses- 
sion of  the  ship  under  a  foreign  flag,  a  double  set  of 
ship's  papers  being  made  out  in  some  instances  to  ac- 
commodate this  "lightning  change."  In  this  way 
American  cruisers  were  foiled  by  the  display  of  foreign 
colors  and  papers,  while  English  war  vessels  found 


1820.  AUDACITY  OF  SLAVERS.  53 

themselves  barred  by  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  As  the 
vigilance  of  American  and  English  war  ships  increased, 
the  slavers  diminished  the  size  of  their  vessels  so  as 
more  readily  to  elude  detection. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  audacity  of  these  sea- 
pests  is  given  in  Commodore  Edward  Trenchard's 
journal.  A  trading  vessel  on  this  coast,  showing 
American  colors,  had  aroused  the  suspicions  of  the 
commander  of  the  British  gunboat  Contest.  The  Eng- 
lish refrained  from  making  a  search  of  the  trader,  con- 
tenting themselves  with  keeping  close  to  her  so  she 
could  do  no  mischief.  Day  after  day  the  vessels  sailed 
in  company,  until  the  Yankee  skipper,  finding  that  he 
could  not  ship  his  cargo  of  slaves— for  in  truth  he  was 
a  slave  trader — challenged  the  British  commander  to  a 
friendly  sailing  match  to  last  twenty-four  hours.  The 
challenge  was  accepted,  for  the  Englishmen  could  not 
restrain  their  desire  to  "  win  a  race."  This  they  easily 
did,  as  the  crafty  Yankee  purposely  retarded  the  prog- 
ress of  his  boat  so  as  to  allow  the  gunboat  to  get  as  far 
ahead  as  possible,  and  under  cover  of  night,  when  the  , 
cruiser  was  out  of  sight,  the  Americans  ran  inshore — 
where  the  slaves  had  been  following  the  boat  for  days 
—took  on  the  human  freight  and  before  daylight  were 
fairly  homeward  bound,  and  not  the  faintest  suggestion 
of  the  Contest  anywhere  to  be  seen. 

One  of  the  first  American  cruisers  to  be  sent  to  the 
slave  coast  was  the  20-gun  sloop  of  war  Cyane,  Com- 
mander Edward  Trenchard.  Her  officers  were  Lieuten- 
ants Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  Silas  H.  Stringham, 
William  Mervine,  Voorhees  and  Hosack,  Midshipmen 
Montgomery,  H.  C.  Newton,  Sanderson  and  William 
Hudson,  and  Acting- Master's  Mate  Jacob  Morris.  The 
Cyane  had  not  been  long  on  this  station  when  early 
in  April,  1820,  Captain  Trenchard  received  secret 
information  that  there  was  a  group  of  slavers  at 
a  certain  point  along  the  coast  whose  capture  would 
prove  a  heavy  blow  to  the  iniquitous  traffic.  His  in- 


£4:  CBtTKIXG  AGAINST  SLAVEBS.  MM 

formant  told  him  that  seven  slavers  were  at  that  mo- 
ment at  the  mouth  of  the  Gallinos  River  waiting  for 
a  gang  of  several  thousand  slaves  to  arrive  from  the 
interior. 

Commander  Trenchard  resolved  to  come  upon  the 
slavers  unannounced  and  if  possible  seize  them  all — 
an  exceedingly  hazardous  and  difficult  undertaking  for 
one  cruiser  to  attempt,  for,  as  has  been  said,  the 
slavers  usually  were  heavily  armed  and  manned,  and 
their  combined  force  undoubtedly  was  several  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  little  Cyane.  As  Trenchard 
drew  near  the  mouth  of  the  Gallinos  he  shortened  sail, 
intending  to  enter  the  river  under  cover  of  night  and 
come  upon  the  slavers  unawares  and  before  they  could 
get  to  sea  and  escape.  The  plan  was  successful. 
When  day  was  about  to  break,  the  sloop  of  war  was  in 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  in  the  gray  light  of  dawn 
the  masts  and  spars  of  two  brigs  and  six  schooners  at 
anchor  close  inshore  were  made  out.  That  the  slavers 
were  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  is  attested  by  the  fact 
that  they  discovered  the  sloop  of  war  almost  as  soon  as 
they  were  made  out  by  the  cruiser,  and  in  an  incredi- 
bly short  time  they  were  under  sail  endeavoring  to 
escape,  excepting  one  of  the  brigs  and  one  schooner, 
which  seemed  to  be  unmoved  by  the  apparition  of  the 
massive  spars  and  heavy  rigging  of  the  cruiser,  and  re- 
mained quietly  at  anchor  as  if  undisturbed  by  a  guilty 
conscience. 

At  the  first  intimation  that  the  slavers  were  endeavor- 
ing to  escape  Trenchard  gave  orders  to  put  about  in 
chase,  and  for  a  few  minutes  there  was  the  liveliest 
kind  of  bustle  and  seeming  confusion  in  the  cruiser  as 
the  men  sprang  up  the  shrouds  and  scrambled  out  on 
the  yards  to  make  sail.  The  broad  entrance  to  the 
river  gave  the  chase  a  fair  opportunity  to  escape,  and 
realizing  this  the  Americans  crowded  on  every  stitch 
of  canvas  that  would  hold  wind.  As  there  was  a  fresh 
breeze  at  the  time  all  the  vessels  were  soon  bowling 


1820.  IN  FULL  CHASE.  65 

along  at  a  smart  rate,  heeling  over  under  clouds  of  can- 
vas on  the  port  tack. 

It  was  here  that  Trenchard  displayed  great  bravery 
in  approaching  the  enemy.  He  took  advantage  of  the 
formation  of  the  coast  so  that  the  fleeing  craft  could 
sail  in  one  direction  only,  thereby  preventing  them 
from  scattering  and  enabling  the  Cyane  to  come  up 
with  all.  In  this  the  intrepid  Trenchard  courted  a 
serious  danger,  for  it  kept  the  six  slavers  in  a  bunch 
and  enabled  them  to  combine  their  forces  on  the  little 
cruiser. 

After  an  exciting  chase  of  an  hour  the  Cyane  had 
gained  sufficiently  on  the  slavers  to  head  off  the  fore- 
most, whereupon  Trenchard  tacked  about  and  stood 
inshore  so  as  to  come  to  close  quarters.  About  this 
time,  7  A.  M.,  the  wind  failed,  leaving  the  vessels  be- 
calmed and  just  out  of  gunshot.  Observing  that  some 
of  the  schooners  were  getting  out  their  boats  with  a 
view  of  towing  to  a  place  of  safety,  Trenchard  ordered 
the  Cyane's  boats  to  be  manned  and  prepared  for  a 
boat  attack.  The  order  was  carried  out  in  gallant 
style.  The  launch,  first  cutter  and  starboard  quarter 
boat  were  lowered  and  manned,  and  at  8  A.  M.  dashed 
toward  the  nearest  schooner,  notwithstanding  the  om- 
inous pointing  of  heavy  guns  at  them  and  the  loud 
threats  of  the  slavers  to  blow  the  boats  out  of  water 
if  they  persisted  in  coming  nearer.  Several  shots  were 
fired.  Unmindful  of  this  the  Americans  nerved  them- 
selves for  a  dash,  and  after  a  strong  pull  boarded 
the  first  vessel.  She  proved  to  be  the  American 
schooner  Endymion,  commanded  by  Alexander  Mc- 
Kim  Andrew.  When  Mr.  Andrew  saw  that  his  threats 
to  blow  the  boats  out  of  water  were  unavailing,  he 
hastily  got  into  one  of  his  boats  and  pulled  toward  the 
land.  Noticing  this  from  the  deck  of  the  Cyane, 
Trenchard  ordered  his  quarter  boat,  under  Lieuten- 
ant Montgomery,  in  pursuit,  and  after  an  exciting 
race  the  fugitive  was  captured.  Midshipman  New- 

50 


QQ  CRUISING  AGAINST  SLAVERS.  1820. 

ton  and  a  prize  crew  were  placed  aboard  the  En- 
dymion. 

At  this  moment  a  fresh  breeze  sprang  up,  and  the 
launch  and  cutter,  which  were  then  pulling  toward  the 
second  schooner  with  a  view  of  boarding  her  also,  soon 
found  that  they  were  losing  ground  instead  of  gaining, 
for  the  schooner,  having  all  her  sails  set,  was  gradually 
drawing  away  from  them.  Upon  discovering  this  the 
two  boats  returned  to  the  Cyane,  and  that  vessel  set 
sail  and  resumed  the  chase.  At  8.30  A.  M.  the  Endym- 
ion  picked  up  the  quarter  boat  which  had  captured 
Mr.  Andrew  and  followed  the  Cyane.  But  the  breeze, 
although  quite  fresh  for  a  time,  began  to  fail  again, 
and  at  noon  Trenchard  sent  Lieutenant  Stringham  in 
the  first  cutter,  Lieutenant  Voorhees  in  the  launch, 
and  Lieutenant  Mervine  in  the  second  gig  to  make  a 
second  boat  attack  on  the  slavers.  This  time  the  boats 
succeeded  in  getting  alongside  the  chase,  and  took 
successively  the  brig  Annita,  commanded  by  Pedro 
Pushe  ;  the  schooner  Esperanza,  Luis  Montefort ;  the 
schooner  Dasher,  Thomas  Munro ;  the  schooner  Eliza, 
Constant  Hastings  ;  and  the  schooner  Louise,  Francis 
Sablon. 

An  examination  of  these  vessels  showed  that  they 
were  all  "deeply  engaged  in  the  traffic  of  slaves. 
There  is  but  one,  however,  of  those  under  foreign  flags 
that  we  can  ascertain  is  acting  in  contravention  to  the 
above  law.  This  is  the  schooner  Esperanza  (formerly 
the  United  States  revenue  cutter  Alert),  now  under 
Spanish  colors.  She  sailed  last  from  Charleston,  S.  C., 
without  a  clearance,  at  which  place  she  enlisted  the 
major  part  of  her  crew  of  American  citizens.  Her  ap- 
parent captain  is  a  Spaniard  by  the  name  of  Monte- 
fort,  but  her  real  captain  and  probable  owner  is  a  Mr. 
Ratcliffe,  an  American,  and  who  is  now  on  shore  col- 
lecting his  complement  of  negroes." 

Having  captured  six  of  the  slavers  by  one  bold 
stroke,  Trenchard  hastened  back  to  the  mouth  of  the 


1820.  A  GALLANT  CAPTURE.  67 

Gallinos,  where  a  brig  and  a  schooner  had  remained 
apparently  indifferent  to  the  fate  that  awaited  them. 
These  vessels  were  taken  without  opposition,  and  one 
was  found  to  be  the  schooner  Science  or  Dechosa,  and 
the  other  was  called  the  Plattsburg  or  Maria  Gat- 
tlireust.  After  a  search  they  were  reported  upon  by 
the  examining  officers  as  follows:  "The  DecJiosa  or 
Science,  of  New  York,  is  owned  in  New  York ;  sailed 
from  that  port  in  January  last  and  touched  at  Porto 
Rico,  where  she  changed  her  name  and  came  imme- 
diately to  this  coast,  landed  her  cargo  and  made 
arrangements  for  receiving  her  slaves.  There  is  little 
doubt  of  her  being  American  property,  and  conse- 
quently we  are  of  opinion  that  she  is  violating  the 
laws  of  the  United  States.  We  can  only  learn  that 
the  Maria  Gatthreust  or  Plattsburg,  of  Baltimore, 
sailed  from  Baltimore  in  December  last,  where  she 
shipped  her  crew  and  cargo  of  goods  ;  she  touched  at 
Cuba,  at  which  place  she  changed  her  character  and 
proceeded  to  this  coast  in  quest  of  slaves.  The  num- 
ber of  men  and  her  strong  armament  induces  us  to  be- 
lieve that  she  is  not  only  a  vessel  engaged  in  the  traffic 
of  slaves,  but  she  is  fully  prepared  to  commit  pirat- 
ical aggressions  on  the  flag  of  any  nation."  All  of 
these  prisoners  were  sent  to  the  United  States  in  the 
Eliza  for  trial.  By  this  daring  act  Trenchard  cap- 
tured seven  slavers  and  probably  one  pirate.  The 
blow  was  a  severe  one  and  did  much  toward  checking 
the  traffic. 

Shortly  after  this  affair  the  Cyane  put  into  Port 
Praya.  As  she  entered  the  port  the  Americans  fired 
the  customary  salute  of  seventeen  guns.  As  the  shore 
batteries  replied  with  only  fifteen,  Trenchard  promptly 
sent  Lieutenant  Voorhees  ashore  to  demand  an  ex- 
planation. The  officials  apologized  for  the  slight  and 
caused  two  more  guns  to  be  discharged.1  We  get  some 

1  Private  Journal  of  Captain  Trenchard. 


68 


CRUISING  AGAINST  SLAVERS.  1820. 


idea  of  the  danger  of  cruising  on  the  African  coast  by 
the  fact  that  while  the  Cyane  was  on  this  station  the 
English  war  brig  Snapper  in  eight  months  lost  eleven 
officers  and  twenty  men  in  a  crew  of  about  fifty  all 
told.  In  April,  1820,  Trenchard  reported  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy  that  thirty-six  of  his  men  were  pros- 
trated by  the  malady.  In  consequence  of  this  alarm- 
ing condition  the  Cyane  was  ordered  home  and  the 
Hornet  took  her  place. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  Webster- Ashburton  treaty 
the  United  States  agreed  to  maintain  a  squadron 
mounting  not  less  than  eighty  guns  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  ;  and  in 
carrying  out  this  section  of  the  treaty  Captain  Matthew 
Calbraith  Perry,  on  the  20th  of  February,  1843,  was 
ordered  to  the  African  coast  in  command  of  the  20-gun 
sloop  of  war  Saratoga,  flagship,  the  38-gun  frigate 
Macedonian,  and  the  brigs  of  war  Decatur  and  Por- 
poise. Prior  to  the  arrival  of  this  squadron  on  its 
station  the  American  trading  vessel  Mary  Carver  had 
been  seized  by  the  natives,  and  her  commander,  Mr. 
Carver,  was  tied  to  a  post,  and  for  three  hours  the 
women  and  children  tortured  him  by  sticking  thorns 
into  his  flesh.  The  Edward  Barley  also  was  seized  by 
the  Africans,  and  her  master,  Mr.  Burke,  her  mate  and 
cook  were  murdered. 

When  Captain  Perry  heard  of  these  outrages  he 
sent  the  Porpoise,  Lieutenant  Stellwagen,  disguised  as 
a  merchantman,  to  the  Berribee  Coast,  where  the  mur- 
ders had  been  committed.  As  soon  as  the  Porpoise 
dropped  anchor  a  number  of  natives  came  aboard,  and 
evidently  would  have  murdered  the  crew  had  the  vessel 
been  a  merchant  craft,  as  they  supposed.  This  was  all 
the  American  commander  wanted  to  know,  and,  sailing 
away  without  injuring  the  natives  or  revealing  the 
character  of  his  vessel,  Lieutenant  Stellwagen  made 
his  report  to  Captain  Perry.  On  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1843,  the  squadron  anchored  off  Berribee  and  de- 


1820.  DEATH  OP  KING  CRACK  0.  69 

raanded  the  restoration  of  the  Mary  Carver's  cargo 
and  the  surrender  of  the  murderers.  After  a  number 
of  "palavers"  Captain  Perry  agreed  to  land  and  hold 
a  conference  with  King  Crack  O  within  the  stockades. 
This  negro  was  a  giant,  and  Captain  Perry  had  been 
warned  of  treachery,  but  in  spite  of  the  danger  the 
intrepid  American  attended  the  conference  with  a  small 
guard.  In  the  middle  of  the  interview  King  Crack  O 
suddenly  seized  Perry  with  one  hand  and  attempted  to 
reach  his  iron  spear  (the  handle  of  which  had  twelve 
notches  in  it,  indicating  the  number  of  men  he  had 
slain)  with  the  other.  The  sergeant  of  marines 
promptly  shot  the  king  and  then  bayoneted  him 
twice ;  but  the  gigantic  negro,  frothing  at  the  mouth, 
continued  to  fight  with  the  ferocity  of  a  demon,  and 
it  took  three  men  to  control  him.  The  other  blacks 
retreated  to  the  camwood  and  opened  a  fire  on  the 
Americans,  using  the  copper  bolts  of  the  Mary  Carver 
as  bullets.  They  were  soon  put  to  flight,  however, 
and  their  town  burned,  King  Crack  O  dying  the 
next  day. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  while  the  squadron  was  at 
a  point  fifteen  miles  down  the  coast,  the  woods  sudden- 
ly resounded  with  war  horns,  bells,  gongs,  etc.,  and  a 
fire  was  opened  on  the  American  boats  pulling  toward 
the  shore.  A  detachment  of  men  was  landed  and  four 
towns  were  destroyed.  The  good  effects  of  these  se- 
vere measures  were  felt  many  years  afterward.  Swift 
runners  carried  the  news  a  thousand  miles  along  the 
coast,  and  on  the  16th  of  December  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded at  Great  Berribee. 

When  Lieutenant  Andrew  Hull  Foote  reached  the 
slave  coast  in  December,  1849,  in  the  brig  of  war  Perry, 
he  found  that  the  American  brigantine  Louisa  Beaton 
had  been  overhauled  by  the  British  cruiser  Dolphin 
under  suspicion  of  being  engaged  in  the  slave  trade. 
The  people  in  the  brigantine  expressed  great  indig- 
nation over  this  proceeding,  and  so  far  asserted  their 


70  CRUISING  AGAINST  SLAVERS.  1820. 

innocence  that  the  English  commander  made  a  dis- 
avowal of  the  act  and  offered  an  indemnity.  As 
showing  the  extreme  delicacy  of  this  service,  it  will  be 
added  that  the  Louisa  Beaton  was  in  truth  a  slaver, 
and  after  being  released  by  the  authorities  got  away 
with  a  cargo  of  human  freight. 

In  the  following  year  (June  7,  1850)  Foote  over- 
hauled a  large  ship  showing  American  colors  off  the 
coast  between  Ambriz  and  Loanda.  As  the  American 
boarding  officer  came  aboard  to  search,  he  noticed  that 
her  name  on  the  stern  was  "  Martha,  of  New  York," 
yet  as  soon  as  her  master  recognized  the  uniform  of  the 
American  officers  he  hauled  down  his  colors  and  claimed 
the  protection  of  the  Brazilian  flag.  He  then  threw 
overboard  his  writing  desk,  and  boldly  declared  that  the 
ship  was  a  Brazilian  and  that  the  Americans  had  no 
right  to  search.  Unfortunately  for  this  man  his  writ- 
ing desk  floated,  and,  on  being  recovered  and  searched, 
papers  were  found  showing  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  three  fifths  of  the  ship  belonged 
to  an  American  living  at  Rio  Janeiro. 

A  further  search  showed  that  there  were  twenty -six 
thousand  gallons  of  water  aboard  and  sufficient  quan- 
tities of  farina  and  rice— the  common  food  of  negroes— 
to  feed  two  thousand  men.  Besides  this  there  were 
wooden  spoons,  iron  boilers  for  cooking  purposes,  man- 
acles used  for  securing  slaves,  and  the  ship  was  fitted 
with  what  was  known  as  a  u  slave  deck."  As  the 
proofs  were  too  strong  against  him  the  master  con- 
fessed that  he  expected  to  take  on  a  full  cargo  of  ne- 
groes that  night.  He  was  seized  and  sent  with  his 
men  to  New  York  and  his  ship  was  condemned  as  a 
slaver. 

Not  long  after  this  the  Perry  seized  the  American 
brigantine  CTiatsworth  and  held  her  for  adjudication, 
but  she  was  released  by  the  court  as  not  having  suffi- 
cient evidence  against  her  to  establish  her  character  as 
a  slaver.  Afterward  the  Chatsworth  was  again  seized 


1820.  SEIZURE  OF  THE  CHATSWORTH.  71 

and  this  time  two  sets  of  papers  were  found  aboard 
her.  Again  she  was  sent  home  and  this  time  was 
condemned. 

These  energetic  measures,  together  with  the  vigi- 
lance exercised  by  the  American  and  British  cruisers 
on  the  slave  coast,  gradually  stamped  out  the  ne- 
farious traffic,  so  that  in  a  few  years  after  the  seizure 
of  the  Chatsworth  the  slave  trade  virtually  was 
stopped. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CONQUEST   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ON  the  night  of  September  6, 1842,  while  the  Pacific 
squadron,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Thomas  ap  C. 
Jones — consisting  of  the  44-gun  frigate  United  States, 
flagship,  the  20-gun  sloop  of  war  Cyane,  Commander 
Cornelius  Kinchiloe  Stribling,  the  16-gun  brig  of  war 
Dale,  Commander  Thomas  Aloysius  Dornin,  and  the 
12-gun  schooner  Shark — was  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Callao,  the  British  frigate  Dublin,  bearing  the  flag  of 
Rear- Admiral  Thomas,  suddenly  appeared  off  the  port, 
took  a  look  at  the  American  cruisers,  and  put  to  sea 
again  without  giving  information  as  to  her  destination. 
Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  action  of  the  British 
admiral  would  not  have  excited  more  than  passing 
comment  for  the  Dublin  had  been  on  the  western  coast 
of  South  America  fifteen  years,  and  was  constantly 
running  from  one  port  to  another.  But  her  behavior  on 
this  particular  occasion  aroused  Captain  Jones'  sus- 
picions. For  some  time  it  had  been  rumored  that 
England  and  France  were  in  secret  negotiation  with 
Mexico  for  the  cession  of  enormous  tracts  of  land  on 
the  Pacific  slope.  These  rumors  were  particularly  ap- 
plicable to  Great  Britain,  as  it  was  well  known  that 
Mexico  was  heavily  in  debt  to  British  merchants,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  no  other  way  of  meeting  the  obliga- 
tion. 

England  had  never  lost  sight  of  France's  first  proj- 
ect of  founding  a  Western  empire.  It  has  been  shown 
that  the  French  ministry  caused  a  chain  of  trading 
posts— in  reality  fortresses— to  be  erected  along  the 

72 


1812.  ENGLAND'S  POLICY.  73 

Great  Lakes  and  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Eivers 
to  New  Orleans,  with  the  view  of  uniting  the  Canadas 
and  Louisiana  into  one  vast  domain,  which  would  cut 
off  the  English  colonies  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  from 
the  Great  West.  When  the  Canadas  passed  under 
British  rule  the  English  endeavored  to  carry  out  this 
plan  for  the  purpose  of  confining  the  United  States 
east  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  ;  but  the  naval  victories  on  Lake  Champlain 
and  Lake  Erie,  and  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  in  the 
War  of  1812,  frustrated  this,  and  as  a  last  resort  the 
British  ministers  projected  the  most  formidable  expe- 
dition of  the  war  against  New  Orleans,  at  a  time  when 
negotiations  for  peace  were  pending,  hoping  to  secure 
a  footing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
thus  establish  a  claim  on  the  vast  territory  drained  by 
its  confluents.  This  was  in  keeping  with  England's 
policy  of  occupying  strategic  positions  on  the  coasts 
of  other  nations  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  By  fortify- 
ing the  little  island  of  Heligoland,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Elbe,  England  for  many  years  exercised  a  controlling 
influence  over  the  German  states,  and  by  holding  the 
Channel  Islands  she  was  a  constant  menace  to  France. 
Her  impregnable  strongholds  at  Gibraltar  and  Malta 
gave  her  a  dominating  influence  over  Spain,  Portugal, 
Italy  and  other  Mediterranean  nations,  and  the  occu- 
pation of  Hong- Kong  on  the  island  of  Victoria,  near 
the  mouth  of  several  large  rivers  in  China,  put  her  in  a 
threatening  attitude  toward  that  country.  This  "hold- 
ing the  clinched  fist "  close  to  the  aquiline  nose  of  Uncle 
Sam,  so  far  as  the  Mississippi  River  was  concerned, 
was  prevented  by  the  American  naval  forces  at  Lake 
Borgne  and  by  General  Jackson.  But  England  was 
always  on  the  watch  to  secure  more  strategic  points. 

Captain  Jones  had  been  put  on  his  guard  by  the 
Government,  and  had  recently  read  in  a  Mexican 
paper  that  war  was  likely  to  be  declared  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico,  if  indeed  hostilities  had  not 


CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1842-1846. 

already  begun.  All  these  circumstances  made  the 
American  commander  suspect  that  the  Dublin  was 
bound  for  California  for  the  purpose  of  occupying 
towns  along  the  coast,  and  knowing  that  the  policy 
of  the  United  States  was  to  extend  its  territory  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  he  promptly  got  to  sea  with  his  entire 
squadron  on  the  7th  of  September.  As  soon  as  the  ves- 
sels had  gained  an  offing  he  called  a  council  of  his  offi- 
cers and  laid  the  facts  before  them,  and  they  came  to 
the  conclusion  unanimously  that  it  was  their  duty,  at 
all  hazards,  to  prevent  the  British  from  obtaining  a 
foothold  in  California.  The  United  States  and  the  Cy- 
ane  hastened  northward,  while  the  Shark  returned  to 
Callao  and  the  Dale  made  for  Panama  with  dispatches 
for  the  Government.  Captain  Jones  reached  Monterey 
on  the  afternoon  of  October  19th,  but  saw  nothing  of 
the  Dublin.  He  heard  enough,  however,  to  convince 
him  that  his  suspicions  were  well  founded,  and  he  in- 
sisted on  the  surrender  of  the  place  ;  but  on  the  follow- 
ing day  he  learned  that  war  did  not  exist  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico,  and  he  promptly  made 
amends  for  his  hasty  action.  That  the  Government 
was  not  displeased  with  the  vigilance  of  this  officer  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  not  censured  for  the 
part  he  had  played ;  but,  as  some  action  was  necessary 
to  conciliate  Mexico,  he  was  removed  from  the  com- 
mand of  the  squadron. 

War  was  not  declared  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  until  May,  1846,  and,  learning  of  the  bat- 
tles of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Captain 
John  Drake  Sloat,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command 
of  the  Pacific  squadron,  sailed  from  Mazatlan  on  the 
8th  of  June  in  the  44-gun  frigate  Savannah,  Captain 
William  Mervine,  and  arrived  at  Monterey  July  2d, 
where  he  found  the  Warren,  the  Cyane  and  the  Le- 
vant. Landing  two  hundred  and  fifty  seamen  and  ma- 
rines, under  Captain  Mervine,  he  took  possession  of 
the  place,  and  a  week  later  the  Portsmouth,  Com- 


1846.  THE  ENGLISH  AT   MONTEREY.  fo 

mander  John  Berrien  Montgomery,  took  formal  pos- 
session of  the  magnificent  bay  of  San  Francisco  and 
the  adjoining  territory.  Sutler's  Fort,  on  Sacramento 
River,  Bodega  and  Sonoma  also  were  occupied.  On  the 
16th  of  July  the  80-gun  ship  of  the  line  Collingwood^ 
Admiral  Sir  George  F.  Seymour,  arrived  at  Monterey, 
and  on  the  19th  of  July  Major  John  Charles  Fremont, 
who  was  exploring  California  at  the  head  of  a  company 
of  topographical  engineers,  reached  the  same  place  with 
one  hundred  and  sixty  mounted  riflemen,  and  placed 
himself  under  the  orders  of  Captain  Sloat.  In  his 
Four  Years  in  the  Pacific  in  H.  M.  S.  Collingwood, 
Lieutenant  Walpole  of  the  royal  navy  says  :  "  Fremont 
and  his  party  were  true  trappers.  They  had  passed 
years  in  the  wilds,  living  upon  their  own  resources. 
Many  of  them  were  blacker  than  the  Indians.  Their 
dress  was  principally  a  long,  loose  coat  of  deer  skin, 
tied  with  thongs  in  front ;  trousers  of  the  same,  of 
their  own  manufacture.  They  are  allowed  no  liquor — 
tea  and  sugar  only."  ult  was  a  day  of  excitement 
when  we  entered  Monterey,"  says  Major  Fremont  in 
his  Memoirs.  "Four  of  our  men-of-war  were  lying  in 
the  harbor,  and  also  the  Collingwood.  Looking  out 
over  the  bay,  the  dark  hulls  of  the  war  vessels  and  the 
slumbering  cannon  still  looked  ominous  and  threaten- 
ing. There  lay  the  pieces  on  the  great  chess-board 
before  me  with  which  the  game  for  an  empire  had  been 
played."  No  doubt  Admiral  Seymour  would  gladly 
have  had  a  pretext  for  seizing  the  territory,  and  inci- 
dentally recapturing  the  Cyane  and  Levant,  which 
had  been  taken  from  the  English  in  1815,  but  he  was 
checkmated  by  the  superior  force  that  Captain  Sloat 
had  collected  at  Monterey,  and  after  an  exchange  of 
civilities  he  sailed  on  the  23d  of  July  for  the  Sand- 
wich Islands. 

Anxious  to  interrupt  communications  between  Gen- 
eral Jose  M.  Castro,  commander  of  the  Mexican  forces 
in  California,  and  Mexico,  Captain  Sloat  sent  Major 


CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


1846. 


Bartara 

Los  Angeles  , 

San  Luis  Key 
San  Diego 


Fremont  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  riflemen  in  the 
Cyane,  Commander  Samuel  Francis  Dupont,  to  San 
Diego.  The  Cyane  arrived  off  that  port  on  the  25th  of 

July.  Landing  on 
the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day,  Lieuten- 
ant Stephen  Clegg 
Rowan  hoisted  the 
American  colors  and 
placed  a  garrison 
there  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant 
George  Minor.  On 
the  30th  of  July  the 
Congress  took  pos- 
session of  San  Pedro, 
seaport  of  Los  Ange- 
les and  the  seat  of 
the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment in  California. 
Desiring  to  return 
to  the  United  States 
on  account  of  his 
health,Captain  Sloat, 
on  the  23d  of  July, 
1840,  turned  over  the  command  of  the  squadron  to  Cap- 
tain Robert  Field  Stockton  (who  had  recently  arrived 
in  Monterey)  and  sailed  for  Panama  in  the  Levant. 

Finding  that  all  the  seaports  on  the  Californian 
coast  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Americans,  Captain 
Stockton  planned  an  expedition  against  Los  Angeles. 
Leaving  the  Savannah  on  guard  at  Monterey,  the 
Portsmouth  at  San  Francisco,  the  Warren  at  Mazatlan 
and  the  Erie  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Captain  Stock- 
ton, on  the  1st  of  August,  sailed  from  Monterey  in  the 
Congress.  Stationing  a  small  force  at  Santa  Barbara, 
he  appeared  off  San  Pedro  August  6th,  and,  landing 
three  hundred  and  fifty  sailors  and  marines,  estab- 


Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 


1846.         STOCKTON  MARCHES  UPON  LOS  ANGELES.  ff 

lished  a  camp  and  began  the  arduous  task  of  drilling 
the  sailors  in  military  tactics.  "There  were  only 
about  ninety  muskets  in  the  whole  corps.  Some  of 
the  men  were  armed  with  carbines,  others  had  only 
pistols,  swords  or  boarding-pikes.  They  presented  a 
motley  and  peculiar  appearance,  with  great  variety  of 
costume.  Owing  to  their  protracted  absence  from 
home  the  supplies  of  shoes  and  clothing  had  fallen 
short,  and  the  ragged  and  diversified  colors  of  their 
garments,  as  well  as  the  want  of  uniformity  in  their 
arms  and  accoutrements,  made  them  altogether  a  spec- 
tacle both  singular  and  amusing."1  Captain  Stockton 
fully  realized  the  importance  of  securing  the  strategic 
places  in  California  before  the  several  thousand  well- 
armed  and  well- mounted  soldiers  then  scattered  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  State  could  come  together.  The 
many  narrow  passes,  mountain  ranges,  and  undula- 
tions of  the  land  favorable  for  resisting  invaders  gave 
the  Mexicans  a  great  advantage.  Their  forces  at  Los 
Angeles  also  outnumbered  the  Americans  three  to  one, 
and  it  was  only  by  putting  on  a  bold  front  that  Captain 
Stockton  had  hopes  of  conquering  them. 

Several  days  after  the  camp  at  San  Pedro  had  been 
established  a  flag  of  truce  appeared  on  the  hills,  and 
Captain  Stockton  determined  on  a  stratagem  to  deceive 
the  enemy  as  to  his  force.  "He  ordered  all  his  men 
under  arms  and  directed  them  to  march  three  or  four 
abreast,  with  intervals  of  considerable  space  between 
each  squad,  directly  in  the  line  of  vision  of  the  ap- 
proaching messengers,  to  the  rear  of  some  buildings  on 
the  beach,  and  thence  to  return  in  a  circle  and  con- 
tinue their  march  until  the  strangers  had  arrived. 
Part  of  the  circle  described  in  the  march  was  con- 
cealed from  view,  so  that  to  the  strangers  it  would  ap- 
pear that  a  force  ten  times  greater  than  the  actual 
number  was  defiling  before  them.  When  the  two 

1  Life  of  Captain  Robert  F.  Stockton,  p.  119. 


78  CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1846. 

L 

bearers  of  the  flag  of  truce  had  arrived,  he  ordered 
them  to  be  led  up  to  him  alongside  of  the  artillery, 
which  consisted  of  several  6-pounders  and  one  32- 
pound  carronade.  The  guns  were  all  covered  with 
skins  in  such  a  manner  as  to  conceal  their  dimensions 
excepting  the  huge  mouth  of  the  32-pounder,  at  which 
the  captain  was  posted  to  receive  his  guests.  He  sup- 
posed that  in  all  probability  neither  of  them  had  ever 
before  seen  such  an  instrument  of  war,  and  that  the 
large  and  gaping  aperture  of  the  gun,  into  the  very 
mouth  of  which  they  were  compelled  to  look,  would 
be  likely  to  disturb  their  nerves.  As  his  purpose  was 
that  of  intimidation,  he  received  them  with  sternness, 
calculated  to  co-operate  with  the  impression  produced 
by  the  artillery.  .  .  .  The  messengers  brought  over- 
tures for  a  truce,  but,  as  this  was  merely  a  ruse  to  gain 
time,  Captain  Stockton  ordered  them  to  tell  General 
Castro  that  he  would  not  negotiate  with  him  on  any 
other  terms  than  those  of  absolute  submission  to  the 
authority  of  the  United  States.  Having  delivered  this 
message  in  the  most  fierce  and  offensive  manner,  and 
in  a  tone  significant  of  the  most  implacable  and  hostile 
determination,  Captain  Stockton  imperiously  waved 
them  from  his  presence  with  the  insulting  imperative 
Vamose !  The  Mexicans  made  haste  to  escape  from 
the  presence  of  an  enemy  apparently  so  ferocious  and 
formidable,  and  their  ominous  retiring  glances  at  the 
terrific  gun  showed  but  too  plainly  that  the  work  of 
intimidation  was  effectual.  When  they  were  beyond 
hearing  Captain  Stockton  expressed  the  opinion  to  his 
officers  that  these  messengers  would  carry  to  General 
Castro's  camp  such  an  account  of  their  observations  as 
would  supersede  the  necessity  of  any  very  desperate 
battle."1 

Forming  his  little  army  into  a  hollow  square,  with 
his  baggage  and  provisions  in    the    center,    Captain 


1  Life  of  Captain  Robert  F.  Stockton,  p.  120. 


1846.  LOS  ANGELES  CAPTURED.  79 

Stockton,  on  the  llth  of  August,  began  his  tedious 
march  to  Los  Angeles.  Having  only  a  few  horses,  the 
sailors  seized  the  ropes  attached  to  the  heavy  artillery 
and  ammunition  carts  and  dragged  them  over  hills  and 
valleys  of  sand  under  the  burning  rays  of  a  semitrop- 
ical  sun.  On  the  12th  he  met  a  courier  from  General 
Castro  with  a  pompous  message  informing  Captain 
Stockton  that  uif  he  marched  upon  the  town  he  would 
find  it  the  grave  of  his  men."  The  American  com- 
mander replied :  "Then  tell  your  general  to  have  the 
bells  ready  to  toll  in  the  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  I 
shall  be  there  at  that  time."  Stockton  was  as  good  as 
his  word,  and  on  the  13th  of  August  he  met  Major 
Fremont's  detachment,  which  had  come  up  from  San 
Diego,  and  entered  Los  Angeles  unopposed.  The 
Mexican  general,  having  dispersed  the  bulk  of  his 
army,  mounted  his  best  men  on  his  swiftest  horses  and 
made  all  speed  for  Sonora.  The  following  day,  August 
14th,  Andres  Pico  (the  former  governor)  and  General 
Jose  Maria  Flores  surrendered  and  were  liberated  on 
parole.  The  news  of  the  capture  was  sent  overland  to 
Washington  by  the  celebrated  scout  Kit  Carson.  Or- 
ganizing a  civil  government  for  the  entire  State,  with 
Major  Fremont  as  the  head  of  it,  Captain  Stockton 
sailed  northward  on  the  5th  of  September,  leaving  a 
garrison  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Archibald 
H.  Gillespie,  of  the  marines.  Major  Fremont  also  re- 
turned north  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  men  at  Sacra- 
mento to  take  part  in  an  expedition  that  Captain 
Stockton  was  planning  against  Acapulco. 

While  these  operations  were  taking  place  along  the 
coast  of  California,  the  Warren,  Commander  Joseph 
Bartine  Hull,  and  the  Cyane,  Commander  Dupont,  were 
active  in  cruising  along  the  western  coast  of  Mexico  and 
capturing  hostile  vessels.  Thirteen  or  fourteen  prizes 
were  taken  by  them.  Captain  Stockton,  in  his  official 
report,  said  Commanders  Hull  and  Dupont  "deserve 
praise  for  the  manner  in  which  they  have  blockaded 


80  CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1846 

and  watched  the  Mexican  coasts  during  the  most  in- 
clement season  of  the  year."  A  spirited  affair  was 
undertaken  by  the  boats  of  the  Warren  under  Com- 
mander Hull.  The  celebrated  privateer  MaleJc  Adhel 
had  run  into  the  harbor  of  Mazatlan,  and  Lieutenant 
Hull  manned  his  boats  and,  pulling  directly  into  the 
harbor,  captured  the  vessel  and  brought  her  out. 

Early  in  October  a  courier  from  Los  Angeles  arrived 
at  San  Francisco  with  the  startling  announcement  that 
both  Pico  and  General  Flores,  regardless  of  their  parole, 
had  secretly  collected  the  remnants  of  their  army  and 
were  besieging  the  American  garrison  in  the  Govern- 
ment house  at  Los  Angeles.  It  was  also  learned  that 
the  Mexicans  were  attacking  the  garrison  at  Santa 
Barbara,  and  were  advancing  upon  the  little  force  under 
Lieutenant  Minor  at  San  Diego.  Captain  Stockton 
immediately  dispatched  the  Savannah  to  the  scene  of 
trouble.  Arriving  at  San  Pedro,  Captain  Mervine 
found  that  the  American  garrison  at  Los  Angeles  had 
been  forced  to  capitulate,  and  was  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  an  American  cruiser.  Captain  Mervine  landed  a 
detachment  of  seamen  and  marines,  and  began  the 
march  to  the  capital ;  but  he  had  not  advanced  more 
than  twelve  miles  when  he  came  upon  the  Mexicans 
and  a  field  piece  intrenched  in  a  commanding  position. 
Unfortunately,  the  Americans  were  destitute  of  artil- 
lery, but,  gallantly  charging,  they  drove  the  enemy 
from  cover.  The  Mexicans,  being  well  mounted,  car- 
ried off  their  field  piece  and,  after  retreating  a  short 
distance,  formed  another  line.  The  Americans  charged 
again,  but  Captain  Mervine,  finding  that  he  was  losing 
valuable  men  and  that  the  enemy  could  repeat  these 
tactics  with  comparative  impunity,  retired  to  San  Pe- 
dro, closely  followed  by  General  Flores  with  eighteen 
hundred  soldiers.  In  this  affair  the  Americans  had 
several  men  killed  or  wounded. 

Captain  Stockton  sailed  from  San  Francisco  on  the 
12th  of  October  in  the  Congress,  having  in  company 


1846.  LANDING  AT  SAN  DIEGO.  81 

the  transport  Sterling,  with  Major  Fremont's  corps, 
consisting  "of  one  hundred  and  seventy  good  men"1 
aboard.  On  the  way  down  the  coast  the  vessels  be- 
came separated  in  a  fog,  and  as  the  weather  was  clear- 
ing up  the  Congress  met  the  merchant  vessel  Barnsta- 
ble  and  learned  that  the  American  garrison  at  Monterey, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  W.  A.  T.  Maddox, 
of  the  marines,  was  threatened  by  an  uprising  of  the 
people.  Running  into  the  bay,  Captain  Stockton 
landed  fifty  men  and  three  pieces  of  artillery,  under 
Midshipmen  Baldwin  and  Johnston,  and  then  contin- 
ued his  course  southward.  Arriving  at  San  Pedro  on 
the  23d  of  October,  he  landed  three  hundred  men  and 
established  a  camp.  Hearing  that  the  garrison  at  San 
Diego  under  Lieutenant  Minor  was  besieged,  and  find- 
ing that  the  harbor  at  San  Pedro  was  too  exposed, 
Captain  Stockton,  after  a  few  skirmishes  with  the  ene- 
my, changed  his  base  of  operations  to  the  former  place. 
In  attempting  to  cross  the  bar  at  San  Diego  the  Con- 
gress grounded.  A  second  attempt  to  get  the  ship 
over  was  successful,  but  she  grounded  in  the  bay,  and 
heeled  over  so  much  that  it  became  necessary  to  shore 
her  up  with  spars.  While  she  was  in  this  condition 
the  Mexicans  made  a  furious  attack  on  the  town.  As 
many  men  as  could  be  spared  were  landed  under  Lieu- 
tenant Minor  and  Captain  Gillespie,  and  they  drove 
the  enemy  back. 

Being  greatly  in  need  of  horses  and  live  stock,  Cap- 
tain Stockton  sent  Captain  Hensley  and  Captain  Gib- 
son with  a  detachment  of  men  into  Lower  California 
for  a  supply,  and  these  officers  soon  returned  with 
ninety  horses  and  two  hundred  head  of  cattle.  Another 
expedition  under  Captain  Gillespie  was  planned  against 
the  enemy's  camp  at  San  Bernardino,  but  before  it  got 
under  way  Captain  Stockton  received  word  from  Brig- 
adier-General Stephen  W.  Kearny  that  he  had  crossed 


1  Memoirs  of  John  Charles  Fremont,  p.  577. 
61 


gg  CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1846. 

the  mountains  from  Santa  Fe  with  one  hundred  dra- 
goons, and  desired  to  open  communication  with  the 
American  naval  forces.  Captain  Gillespie,  with  Lieu- 
tenant Beale,  Midshipman  James  M.  Duncan  and  ten 
carbineers,  together  with  a  force  of  twenty-five  volun- 
teers under  Captain  Gibson  and  a  field  gun,  were  or- 
dered to  march  immediately  and  effect  a  junction  with 
him,  which  was  done  early  in  December.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  December  6th  General  Kearny  attacked  the 
Mexican  forces  at  San  Pasqual,  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Pio  Pico,  but  was  repelled  with  the  loss  of  one 
of  his  guns  and  eighteen  men  killed  and  fifteen 
wounded,  among  the  latter  being  General  Kearny  him- 
self, Lieutenant  Beale  and  Captain  Gillespie.  The 
general  now  found  himself  besieged  by  a  force  that 
was  hourly  growing  stronger.  On  the  night  of  Decem- 
ber 7th  Lieutenant  Beale,  with  Mr.  Godey  and  an 
Indian  scout,  slipped  through  the  enemy's  lines,  and, 
after  enduring  great  hardships,  reached  the  American 
camp  at  San  Diego  on  the  night  of  December  9th. 

The  position  of  the  American  forces  in  California 
was  extremely  critical.  Elated  with  the  recapture  of 
Los  Angeles,  the  repulse  of  Captain  Mervine  on  the  road 
to  that  town,  the  abandonment  of  San  Pedro  by  the 
powerful  American  squadron,  and  most  of  all  by  the  de- 
feat of  General  Kearny,  the  Mexicans  were  rallying  in 
great  numbers.  Realizing  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
Captain  Stockton  resolved  on  prompt  and  decisive 
measures.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  relieve 
General  Kearny  at  San  Bernardino.  Accordingly,  the 
attack  on  Los  Angeles  was  postponed,  while  Andrew  F. 
V.  Gray,  on  the  10th  of  December,  with  two  hundred 
and  fifteen  men,  was  sent  in  all  haste  to  the  aid  of  the 
general.  That  young  officer  carried  out  his  instruc- 
tions with  spirit,  and  by  making  forced  marches  he 
reached  the  besieged  dragoons  and  escorted  them  to 
San  Diego.  Captain  Stockton  began  his  march  upon 
Los  Angeles  December  29th.  His  entire  force  now  con- 


1846.  AN  EXHAUSTING   MARCH.  33 

sisted  of  nearly  six  hundred  sailors  and  marines,  Gen- 
eral Kearny's  sixty  dismounted  dragoons,  six  light 
guns  and  a  howitzer.  There  were  only  two  hundred 
muskets  in  the  whole  army,  the  sailors  being  armed 
with  carbines  and  boarding- pikes,  while  the  few  horses 
were  unfit  for  the  march,  and  soon  gave  out. 

The  road  to  Los  Angeies,  about  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  miles  long,  was  intersected  with  deep  ravines, 
sand  hills  and  deserts,  affording  many  strong  positions 
where  a  handful  of  determined  men  could  have  im- 
peded seriously  the  progress  of  an  army.  The  first 
day  of  the  march  was  occupied  in  crossing  the  dry, 
sandy  bed  of  San  Diego  River  and  in  reaching  Solidad, 
the  guns  and  ammunition  carts  being  drawn  two  thirds 
of  the  way  by  the  officers  and  men.  ''After  an  ad- 
vance of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  we  found  what  labor  was 
in  store  for  us.  Almost  every  ox  team  became  stalled 
in  the  sandy  bed  of  the  dry  river,  and  had  to  be 
dragged  across  by  the  troops.  On  a  dead  level  the 
half-starved  oxen  managed  to  drag  the  carts,  but  when 
we  came  to  a  hill  or  a  sandy  bottom  the  troops  had  to 
pull  them  along.  These  extra  labors  were  of  hourly 
occurrence,  and  when  we  reached  the  place  where  we 
were  to  camp  for  the  night  the  men  were  almost  ex- 
hausted."1 "Our  men  were  badly  clothed,  and  their 
shoes  generally  were  made  by  themselves  out  of  canvas. 
It  was  very  cold,  and  the  roads  heavy.  Our  animals 
were  all  poor  and  weak,  some  of  them  giving  out  daily, 
which  gave  much  hard  work  to  the  men  in  dragging 
the  heavy  carts,  loaded  with  ammunition  and  provi- 
sions, through  deep  sands  and  up  steep  ascents."2  On 
the  morning  of  the  second  day  the  men  came  to  Cap- 
tain Stockton  in  squads  and  begged  for  twenty-four 
hours  of  rest.  This,  at  first,  was  granted,  but  realiz- 
ing that  every  day  was  increasing  the  enemy's  strength, 


1  Recollections  of  the  Mexican  War,  Vice-Admiral  Rowan. 

2  Official  Report  of  Captain  Robert  F.  Stockton. 


84  CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1846-1847. 

Captain  Stockton  after  a  few  hours  resumed  the  march, 
in  spite  of  urgent  requests  for  rest.  During  the  day 
straggling  parties  of  Mexican  horsemen  appeared  at 
different  points  along  the  route,  showing  that  the  ene- 
my was  on  the  alert  and  not  far  off.  On  the  second 
day  several  of  them  appeared  in  front  of  a  house  on  a 
hill,  waving  their  lances  in  defiance ;  but  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  advance  guard  they  disappeared  as  sud- 
denly as  they  came.  When  the  little  army  had  cov- 
ered about  two  thirds  of  the  distance,  messengers  bear- 
ing a  letter  from  General  Flores  were  met,  but  Captain 
Stockton  refused  to  read  the  missive,  saying  that  the 
Mexican  commander  had  broken  his  parole  and  would 
be  shot  if  he  again  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. 

On  the  2d  of  January  Stockton  reached  San  Luis 
Rey,  and  on  the  3d  a  courier  was  dispatched  to  com- 
municate, if  possible,  with  the  corps  under  Major  Fre- 
mont. Continuing  his  march,  Captain  Stockton  on  the 
evening  of  January  7th  approached  San  Gabriel  River, 
and  by  sending  out  scouts  he  discovered  that  the  Mex- 
icans were  intrenched  between  him  and  the  river, 
apparently  determined  to  give  battle.  Early  on  the 
following  morning  all  the  firearms  were  discharged  and 
reloaded,  so  as  to  insure  their  being  in  good  condition. 
Incidentally  it  was  a  reminder  that  the  8th  of  January 
was  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 
Having  assigned  every  man  to  his  position,  and  giving 
careful  instructions  how  to  proceed,  Captain  Stockton 
resumed  the  march  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  on 
reaching  the  plains  formed  his  army  in  a  hollow  square 
with  the  baggage  and  provisions  in  the  center.  When 
he  was  within  two  miles  of  the  river  the  enemy,  six 
hundred  strong,  appeared  in  three  divisions  on  the  hills 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  San  Gabriel.  As  the  Amer- 
icans approached  the  ford  where  the  river  was  about 
fifty  yards  wide,  a  body  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Mex- 
icans crossed  the  San  Gabriel  at  another  point  and  en- 


1847.  BATTLE  OF  SAN   GABRIEL.  35 

deavored  to  drive  a  herd  of  wild  mares  into  the  Amer- 
ican ranks,  but  failing  in  this  they  retired  across  the 
river  to  their  position  about  six  hundred  yards  from 
the  water.  The  main  body  of  their  army,  two  hundred 
strong,  with  two  pieces  of  artillery,  was  stationed  op- 
posite the  ford. 

As  the  Americans  approached  the  crossing  place 
the  Mexicans  opened  a  heavy  fire,  one  of  their  cannon 
balls  striking  Frederick  Strauss,  a  seaman  of  the  Ports- 
mouth, in  the  neck  and  killing  him  instantly.  Some 
of  the  other  Americans  were  wounded  about  the  same 
time,  but  in  spite  of  their  exposed  position  they  strug- 
gled across  the  stream,  while  the  officers  and  men  as- 
sisted the  mules  in  dragging  the  two  9-pounders 
through  the  deep  sand.  As  soon  as  the  advance  guard 
had  crossed  the  9-pounders  were  unlimbered,  and  al- 
though exposed  in  the  open  plain  they  were  loaded 
and  fired  with  such  precision  that  one  shot  knocked  a 
Mexican  gun  out  of  its  carriage.  It  was  five  minutes 
before  the  Mexicans  recovered  from  the  confusion 
created  by  this  well-aimed  missile,  but  finally  twenty 
of  them  ran  from  their  cover  and  hastily  fastening  las- 
soes to  the  gun  dragged  it  to  the  rear.  About  this 
time  the  Mexicans  made  a  flank  movement  and  endeav- 
ored to  capture  the  two  6-pounders  in  the  rear  of  the 
American  army,  but  they  were  repelled  by  the  marines 
under  Lieutenant  Jacob  Zeilin.  The  Mexican  right 
wing  then  attempted  to  rout  Captain  Stockton's  left, 
but  it  was  repelled  by  the  musketeers  under  Lieuten- 
ants William  B.  Renshaw  and  H.  B.  Watson  and  Mid- 
shipman John  Guest. 

Everything  now  being  in  readiness,  Captain  Stock- 
ton gave  the  word  to  charge,  and  the  men  rushed  for- 
ward with  great  spirit.  The  Mexican  center  withstood 
the  attack  for  some  time,  but  finally  broke  and  fled. 
At  this  moment  their  right  wing  wheeled  round  and 
charged  the  American  rear,  which  was  encumbered 
with  baggage,  horses  and  cattle,  but  Captain  Gillespie 


8G  CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1847. 

opened  such  a  well-directed  fire  that  the  enemy  was 
again  repelled.  The  Americans  were  now  in  full  pos- 
session of  the  enemy's  breastworks,  and  "the  band 
playing  Hail  Columbia  and  Yankee  Doodle  announced 
another  glorious  victory  on  the  8th  of  January."1  In 
this  affair  the  Americans  lost  two  killed  and  had  nine 
wounded,  while  that  of  the  enemy  was  about  seventy 
killed  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  wounded. 

Anxious  to  follow  up  his  advantage,  Captain  Stock- 
ton ordered  the  tattoo  to  be  beaten  at  an  early  hour  that 
evening,  with  the  intention  of  resuming  the  march  on 
Los.  Angeles  at  daybreak.  At  midnight  the  picket 
men  were  fired  upon,  and,  fearing  a  general  attack, 
Captain  Stockton  in  a  few  minutes  had  his  little  army 
under  arms,  but  finding  that  it  was  nothing  more  than 
a  few  straggling  prowlers  the  men  returned  to  their 
blankets.  At  9  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the 
Americans  were  again  formed  into  a  hollow  square, 
with  the  baggage  and  animals  in  the  center,  and  re- 
sumed the  march ;  but  they  had  not  proceeded  more 
than  six  miles  when  they  were  again  confronted  by 
the  Mexican  army  intrenched  in  a  strong  position  on 
the  plains  of  Mesa.  When  within  range  the  enemy 
opened  fire  from  a  masked  battery,  which  killed  an  ox 
and  a  mule  of  the  American  provision  train.  The  fire 
was  returned  by  the  6-pounder,  under  Acting- Master 
William  H.  Thompson.  Observing  that  the  enemy 
was  dividing  his  cavalry  so  as  to  attack  three  sides  of 
the  American  square  simultaneously,  Captain  Stockton 
ordered  his  men  to  reserve  their  fire  until  they  could 
distinctly  see  the  faces  of  their  foe.  "  The  appearance 
which  the  Mexicans  made  on  this  occasion,  mounted 
on  fine  horses,  gayly  caparisoned,  with  ribbons  and  pen- 
nons streaming  in  the  breeze,  was  brilliant  and  exciting. 
On  they  came  at  full  gallop,  the  earth  quivering  be- 
neath their  hoofs,  their  bright  weapons  flashing  in  the 

1  Official  report  of  Captain  Stockton. 


1847.  SEAMEN  IN  A  HOLLOW  SQUARE.  37 

rays  of  the  sun,  apparently  with  desperate  valor  bent 
on  hurling  themselves  upon  the  small,  compact  and 
silent  mass  that  awaited  their  charge.  But  when  they 
had  approached  as  near  as  Captain  Stockton  thought 
proper  he  gave  the  signal,  and  a  deadly  fire  checked 
their  gallant  advance."1  Three  times  the  Mexicans 
rallied  and  charged  the  hollow  square,  and  three  times 
they  were  repelled  by  the  unflinching  bravery  of  the 
little  army,  leaving  many  a  horse  galloping  over  the 
plains  with  an  empty  saddle.  At  last  they  retired  in 
confusion,  and  on  the  following  day  Captain  Stockton 
entered  Los  Angeles  in  triumph,  where  he  was  joined 
on  the  15th  of  January  by  Major  Fremont's  corps. 

In  the  battle  of  the  9th  the  Americans  had  one 
killed  and  five  wounded,  including  Lieutenant  Rowan 
and  Captain  Gillespie.  Besides  those  already  men- 
tioned, the  naval  officers  in  these  brilliant  affairs  were 
Lieutenant  Richard  L.  Tilghman ;  Acting- Lieutenants 
B.  F.  B.  Hunter  and  Edward  Higgins ;  Midshipmen 
Benjamin  F.  Wells,  P.  Haywood,  Robert  C.  Duvall, 
William  Simmons,  George  E.  Morgan,  J.  Van  Ness 
Philip,  Theodoric  Lee,  Albert  Almand,  Edward  C. 
Grafton,  J.  Fenwick  Stenson,  Joseph  Parrioh  and  Ed- 
mund Shepherd ;  Surgeons  Charles  Eversfield,  John 
S.  Griffin  and  Andrew  A.  Henderson  ;  Purser  William 
Speeden  ;  Captain  Hensley,  Captain  Turner,  of  the  dra- 
goons, Captain  Miguel  de  Pedrovena,  Captain  William 
H.  Emory,  of  the  topographical  engineers,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Davidson.  Soon  after  his  brilliant  victories 
Captain  Stockton  joined  a  party  of  hunters,  and  cross- 
ing the  Rocky  Mountains  made  his  way  overland  to  the 
United  States.  Captain  William  Brandford  Shubrick 
succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  the  Pacific  squadron, 
re-enforcing  it  with  the  54-gun  ship  of  the  line  Inde- 
pendence and  the  16-gun  brig  of  war  Preble. 

1  Life  of  Captain  Robert  F.  Stockton,  p.  147. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  THE  GULF   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

WHILE  this  vigorous  campaign  was  under  way  in 
the  north  the  vessels  stationed  on  the  coasts  of  Mex- 
ico and  Lower  California  had  not  been  idle.  After 
landing  Major  Fremont's  corps  at  San  Diego,  in  July, 
1846,  the  Cyane,  Commander  Dupont,  appeared  off 
San  Bias  on  the  2d  of  September.  A  detachment  of 
men  under  Lieutenant  Rowan  landed,  spiked  all  the 
guns  in  the  place  (twenty-four  in  number)  and  then  re- 
tired without  the  loss  of  a  man.  Running  into  the 
Gulf  of  California,  Commander  Dupont  learned  that  a 
Mexican  gunboat  had  sailed  from  Mulije  for  Guaymas, 
and,  making  all  sail,  he  appeared  off  that  port  on  the 
6th  of  October.  Discovering  two  gunboats  and  a  brig 
in  the  harbor,  he  demanded  that  they  be  surrendered, 
but  the  Mexicans  burned  the  gunboats  and  warped  the 
brig  into  a  cove  within  pistol  shot  of  the  shore,  where 
two  streets  leading  from  the  barracks  opened  on  her. 
These  barracks  were  in  a  commanding  position  and 
contained  several  hundred  soldiers,  besides  artillery. 
It  was  thought  that  the  brig  thus  defended  was  safe. 
But  evidently  the  Mexicans  had  not  heard  of  the  dar- 
ing cutting-out  expeditions  for  which  the  United  States 
navy  is  famous. 

Determined  to  have  the  brig,  Commander  Dupont 
ordered  out  his  launch  and  cutter  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  G.  W.  Harrison,  who  was  assisted  by  Lieu- 
tenant Higgins  and  Midshipman  Lewis.  The  Cyane 
then  hauled  close  inshore  and  opened  a  heavy  fire, 
while  the  boat  party,  pulling  toward  the  cove,  boarded 

88 


1846.  GALLANT  BOAT  SERVICE.  89 

the  brig  and  began  towing  her  out.  Not  wishing  to 
injure  the  town  unnecessarily,  Commander  Dupont 
now  ceased  firing,  whereupon  the  Mexicans  ran  from 
their  cover  and  opened  a  sharp  discharge  of  musketry 
and  artillery  on  the  boat.  This  was  returned  by  Lieu- 
tenant Harrison  and  the  Cyane,  and  again  the  enemy 
ran  to  cover.  In  a  short  time,  however,  the  boat  party 
was  in  the  line  of  the  Cyane's  fire,  so  that  her  gunners 
were  compelled  to  desist.  This  was  a  signal  for  the 
Mexicans  to  resume  their  fire  on  the  boats,  and  a  party 
of  Indians  on  the  other  side  of  the  cove  opened  a  cross 
fire.  Seeing  the  danger  of  his  men,  Commander  Du- 
pont reopened  his  broadside,  and  by  skillfully  throw- 
ing his  missiles  over  the  heads  of  the  boat  party  again 
routed  the  Mexicans  and  held  them  in  check  until  his 
men  were  out  of  danger  and  the  brig  burned. 

Running  down  to  Mazatlan,  the  Cyane  maintained 
such  a  vigorous  blockade  of  that  port  that  the  town 
soon  began  to  suffer  for  want  of  provisions,  and  in  or- 
der to  secure  them  the  enemy  attempted  to  run  the 
blockade  in  small  coasting  vessels.  As  the  only  means 
of  intercepting  them,  the  Americans  manned  their 
boats  and  kept  up  this  hazardous  service  many  weeks. 
By  keeping  close  inshore  the  coasters  secured  the  sup- 
port of  cavalry  with  flying  artillery.  On  two  occasions 
the  Americans  succeeded  in  cutting  off  four  of  these 
blockade  runners,  and  at  one  time,  while  three  of  the 
Cyane's  smallest  boats,  under  the  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant Harrison,  were  returning  from  an  expedition  of 
this  nature,  two  launches  and  two  barges,  carrying 
sixty  soldiers,  put  out  of  the  harbor  in  pursuit,  the 
Cyane  being  some  miles  seaward.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  Mexicans  had  the  support  of  their 
artillery  on  shore,  Lieutenant  Harrison  turned  on  his 
pursuers  and  gallantly  advanced  to  give  battle.  On 
coming  within  range  both  sides  opened  a  sharp  fire, 
but  the  Mexicans  soon  turned,  ran  their  boats  on  the 
beach  and  escaped  on  shore.  In  her  cruise  off  these 


90  IN   THE  GULF  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1846-1847. 

coasts  the  Cyane  and  her  boats  captured  twenty-three 
craft  of  all  kinds. 

Some  idea  of  the  hardships  and  dangers  to  which 
the  American  officers  and  seamen  on  this  coast  were 
exposed  may  be  gained  from  Lieutenant  Tunis  Augus- 
tus Macdonough  Craven's  journal,  under  date  of  De- 
cember 21,  1846,  when  his  ship,  the  Dale,  was  off  Mon- 
terey. "  In  standing  out  to  the  northwest,  the  weather 
being  quite  thick  and  the  rain  pouring  down  in  tor- 
rents, we  came  very  near  running  into  a  low  point  of 
land  forming  the  north  point  of  the  bay.  We  were 
obliged  to  haul  by  the  wind,  which  had  increased  to  a 
gale  and  suddenly  shifted  to  the  northwest,  blowing 
strong.  On  neither  tack  could  we  clear  the  shore. 
Night  came  on ;  we  could  not  regain  the  port ;  the  rain 
poured  down  in  violent  squalls  and  the  wind  at  times 
raged  furiously ;  the  lee  shore  was  by  calculation-  not 
more  than  nine  miles  off.  We  could  not  carry  much 
sail,  and  were  obliged  to  reduce  what  little  we  had.  A 
tremendous  swell  set  in  from  the  southwest,  and  we 
felt  that  it  was  fast  driving  us  toward  the  fatal  shore. 
But  the  Almighty  rendered  us  assistance  when  the 
hand  of  man  was  powerless." 

Late  in  October,  1847,  the  Congress,  Captain  La 
Valette,  and  the  Portsmouth,  Commander  Montgomery, 
hove  to  off  Guaymas,  and,  landing  two  heavy  guns  on 
an  island  commanding  the  town,  opened  a  heavy  fire 
at  sunrise  on  the  following  day,  and  in  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  the  enemy  surrendered.  All  the  water- 
front batteries  were  then  destroyed,  but  on  the  evening 
of  the  same  day  General  Campujano  approached  the 
place  with  a  large  force.  Landing  a  detachment  of 
seamen  and  marines,  Captain  La  Yalette  prepared  to 
defend  the  place,  but  the  Mexican  general,  being  de- 
serted by  many  of  his  soldiers,  left  the  Americans  in 
quiet  possession.  Leaving  the  Portsmouth  at  Guay- 
mas, Captain  La  Yalette  ran  over  to  Loreto,  and, 
standing  down  the  coast,  joined  the  Independence  and 


1847.  GUAYMAS  CAPTURED.  91 

the  Cyane  at  Cape  San  Lucas  on  the  16th  of  October. 
In  November  the  Dale,  Commander  Thomas  O.  Self- 
ridge,  relieved  the  Portsmouth  at  Guaymas. 

While  on  his  way  to  that  place  Commander  Self- 
ridge  learned  that  one  hundred  and  fifty  Mexican  sol- 
diers, under  the  command  of  a  chief  called  Pineda,  had 
captured  Mulije  and  were  overawing  the  inhabitants, 
the  majority  of  whom  were  friendly  to  the  United 
States.  The  bold  table  mountain  and  broken  crags  of 
Mulije  were  made  out  September  30th,  and  soon  after- 
ward the  Dale  brought  her  broadside  to  bear  on  the 
town,  while  Lieutenant  Craven  with  fifty  men  in  four 
boats  pulled  up  the  creek  to  cut  out  a  schooner.  This 
was  done  in  handsome  style,  and  although  many  Mexi- 
can soldiers  were  in  sight  they  offered  no  resistance. 
On  the  following  day  Lieutenant  Craven  landed  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  creek  with  eighty  officers  and  men, 
including  Lieutenant  William  T.  Smith,  Lieutenant 
Tansill,  of  the  marines,  Past  Midshipman  James  M. 
Duncan,  and  Midshipmen  Thomas  T.  Houston,  J.  R. 
Hamilton  and  W.  B.  Hayes,  and  drove  the  Mexicans, 
one  hundred  and  forty  strong,  three  miles  inland. 
Several  ambuscades  were  prepared  for  the  Americans, 
but  the  steadiness  of  the  seamen  carried  everything 
before  it.  Two  of  the  Americans  were  wounded. 
Lieutenant  Craven,  with  Midshipman  Hamilton  and 
eleven  men,  was  then  placed  in  command  of  the 
schooner  Libertad,  fitted  with  a  9-pounder  for  the 
service,  and  was  ordered  to  cruise  in  the  Gulf  and 
interrupt  the  enemy's  communications.  On  the  9th  of 
November  Lieutenant  Craven  cut  out  the  sloop  Alerta 
from  the  harbor  of  Mulije. 

The  Dale  in  the  meantime  had  crossed  over  to 
Guaymas,  and  on  the  17th  of  November  Commander 
Selfridge  landed  with  sixty-five  men  and  marched 
upon  the  town.  When  he  reached  the  plaza  the 
Mexicans  opened  an  unexpected  fire  from  the  houses 
that  surrounded  the  place,  which  inflicted  a  severe 


92 


IN   THE  GULP  OP  CALIFORNIA.  1847-1848. 


wound  on  the  commander's  foot  and  compelled  him 
to  return  to  his  ship.  It  was  discovered  that  four 
hundred  soldiers  were  concealed  in  the  houses.  The 
Mexicans  believed  that  they  had  the  Americans  in  a 
trap.  "Every  house  breathed  fire  from  its  doors  and 
windows,  and  the  officers  thought  that  the  whole  party 
was  doomed  to  destruction  ;  but  the  men  were  so  well 
handled  by  Lieutenant  Smith  [who  succeeded  to  the 
command],  and  their  fire  was  so  effectively  poured 
upon  the  Mexicans,  who  were  sallying  from  the  houses 
and  forming,  that  the  enemy  was  thrown  into  the  ut- 
most confusion.  A  flight  commenced,  about  four  hun- 
dred Mexican  soldiers  being  routed  by  about  seventy 
seamen.  In  this  affair  Lieutenant  Tansill  commanded 
the  marines  and  led  that  gallant  little  band  into  the 
thickest  and  hottest  part  of  the  fight."  1  Thirty  of  the 
Mexicans  were  killed  or  wounded. 

Hearing  that  a  body  of  Mexican  soldiers  had  taken 
a  position  at  Cochori,  Lieutenant  Yard,  commanding 
the  Dale,  on  Sunday  morning,  January  80,  1848,  sent 
a  boat  party  under  Lieutenant  Craven  to  attack  them. 
Pulling  four  miles  up  the  coast,  the  Americans  landed 
some  distance  from  the  enemy's  camp,  and,  cautiously 
making  their  way  along  the  shore  at  night,  suddenly 
came  upon  the  Mexicans  and  routed  them.  Thirteen 
prisoners,  including  Captain  Mendoza  and  a  lieutenant, 
were  taken,  and  five  Mexicans  were  killed. 

Leaving  Lieutenant  Charles  Hey  wood  with  four  mid- 
shipmen, twenty  marines  and  a  12-pounder  in  the  old 
mission  house  at  San  Jose,  a  small  village  twenty  miles 
northeast  of  San  Lucas,  Captain  Shubrick,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day  (November  9th)  sailed  for  Mazatlan 
with  the  Independence,  the  Congress  and  the  Cyane, 
with  the  intention  of  capturing  that  important  com- 
mercial center,  which  yielded  an  annual  revenue  of 
three  million  dollars  to  Mexico.  As  soon  as  the  Ameri- 

1  Journal  of  Lieutenant  Craven. 


1847.  SEIZURE  OF   MAZATLAN.  93 

can  vessels  came  in  sight  of  the  town  they  made  for 
positions  prescribed  by  Captain  Shubrick.  The  Inde- 
pendence anchored  in  a  bend  in  the  peninsula  west  of 
the  town,  and  as  her  broadside  swung  round  her 
lighted  ports  loomed  up  in  the  darkness  like  a  walled 
city.  The  Congress  took  a  dangerous  but  important 
position  in  the  old  harbor,  where  her  guns  could  sweep 
the  roads  leading  from  that  side  of  the  town,  while  the 
Cyane  and  the  Erie  (the  latter  having  joined  the  squad- 
ron off  the  port)  boldly  stood  into  the  new  harbor,  and 
trained  their  guns  on  the  town. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  Captain  La  Valette 
went  ashore  with  a  formal  demand  for  the  surrender  of 
the  place,  but  Colonel  Telles,  the  Mexican  commander, 
tore  up  the  paper  with  insulting  expressions  and  dared 
the  Americans  to  attack.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  this 
Captain  Shubrick  ordered  out  the  boats  of  the  squad- 
ron and  formed  them  in  three  lines  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Watson,  Lieutenants  Kowan  and  Page 
commanding  the  left  and  right  wings.  The  boats  from 
the  Congress,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  John  T.  Liv- 
ingston, had  five  pieces  of  artillery,  which  had  been 
captured  in  Lower  California.  Notwithstanding  the 
protection  the  stone  walls  and  sand  hills  afforded  the 
Mexicans,  they  did  not  open  fire.  Pulling  directly  for 
the  landing,  the  Americans,  six  hundred  in  all,  formed 
on  the  beach  and  marched  to  the  town,  and  under 
a  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  from  the  Independence 
hoisted  the  American  flag.  Captain  Shubrick  organ- 
ized a  municipal  government  for  Mazatlan,  with  Cap- 
tain La  Valette  at  the  head  of  it,  while  a  commission 
consisting  of  Commander  Dupont,  Lieutenant  Chatard, 
Purser  Price  and  Thomas  Miller  arranged  the  terms  of 
occupation.  Pursers  W.  H.  Greene  and  Speeden,  as 
collectors  of  this  port,  in  five  months  received  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  duties.  A  garrison 
held  the  city  till  the  close  of  the  war. 

Colonel  Telles  encamped  not  far  from  the  town  and 


94.  IN  THE  GULF  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1847-1848. 

endeavored  to  cut  off  all  communication  with  the  inte- 
rior. On  the  20th  of  November  a  land  party  of  ninety- 
four  sailors,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Seldon,  and 
sixty-two  men  in  boats,  under  Lieutenant  Rowan,  pro- 
ceeded up  the  coast  to  Urias  with  a  view  of  dislodging 
a  detachment  of  Colonel  Telles'  troops.  At  daylight  of 
the  following  day  the  Yankee  sailors  landed,  and 
charged  the  Mexicans  and  soon  dispersed  them.  Lieu- 
tenant Seldon's  party,  "  having  fallen  into  an  ambush 
of  the  enemy's  advance  guard,  was  severely  handled, 
losing  twenty  killed  or  wounded."1 

Having  secured  this  important  city,  Captain  Shu- 
brick  sent  out  several  expeditions  against  the  smaller 
ports  on  the  western  coast  of  Mexico.  Early  in  Jan- 
uary, 1848,  he  sent  the  storeship  Lexington,  Lieuten- 
ant Theodorus  Bailey,  against  San  Bias.  Lieutenant 
Bailey  appeared  off  that  place  on  the  night  of  January 
12th,  and,  landing  a  party  of  men  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Chartard,  brought  off  two  pieces  of  artil- 
lery and  the  customhouse  boat.  Soon  afterward  Char- 
tard landed  at  Manzanilla  and  spiked  the  guns  in  that 
place.  The  Mexicans  now  had  not  a  serviceable  gun 
on  their  western  coast  except  at  Acapulco. 

In  the  meantime  several  attempts  were  made  by  the 
enemy  to  recapture  the  posts  taken  by  the  Americans, 
the  most  serious  being  that  against  the  garrison  in  the 
mission  house  at  San  Jose.  On  the  19th  of  November 
a  large  force  of  Mexicans  unexpectedly  appeared  before 
that  place  and  called  upon  the  Americans  to  surrender ; 
and  although  Lieutenant  Heywood's  force  consisted  of 
only  twenty  marines  and  four  officers  and  twenty  vol- 
unteers, he  promptly  refused  to  do  so,  prepared  for  a 
desperate  defense,  and  placed  Midshipman  McLanahan 
and  twelve  men  in  a  private  dwelling  adjoining  the  mis- 
sion house.  Late  in  the  day  the  Mexicans  began  the 
attack  by  the  rapid  discharge  of  a  6-pounder,  but  find- 

1  Lieutenant  Rowan's  Recollections  of  the  Mexican  War. 


1847-1848.  HEYWOOD'S  HEROIC  DEFENSE.  95 

ing  that  ineffectual  they  prepared  a  different  plan.  At 
ten  o'clock  that  night  they  made  a  sudden  assault  in 
the  front  and  rear  of  both  houses,  at  the  same  time  re- 
opening the  fire  from  their  6-pounder.  The  Americans 
responded  with  a  9-pounder,  and  with  such  good  aim 
that  the  Mexicans  sought  the  cover  of  buildings,  from 
which  they  kept  up  a  desultory  fire  until  daybreak, 
when  they  retired. 

On  the  following  night  they  concentrated  their  entire 
force  on  the  mission  house  and  endeavored  to  carry  it 
by  assault.  On  they  came  writh  yells  and  shouts  that 
were  intended  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
garrison.  Their  first  object  was  to  break  down  the 
front  door  and  capture  the  9-pounder  which  had  caused 
them  so  much  annoyance  the  day  before.  But  Lieu- 
tenant Heywood,  ever  on  the  alert,  was  equal  to  the 
emergency,  and  had  stationed  some  of  his  best  men  at 
the  gun.  Waiting  until  the  enemy  was  within  good 
range,  the  Americans  discharged  the  gun,  which 
brought  down  the  Mexican  leader  with  several  of  his 
men,  and  put  the  others  to  flight.  At  the  same  time  a 
strong  party  of  Mexicans  with  scaling  ladders  was  ap- 
proaching the  mission  house  from  behind,  but,  meeting 
with  a  hot  fire  and  discouraged  by  the  repulse  of  their 
comrades  in  front,  they  also  fled.  On  the  following 
morning  a  whaling  vessel  anchored  in  the  bay,  and, 
supposing  her  to  be  a  man-of-war,  the  enemy  retired. 
In  these  attacks  the  Americans  had  three  men 
wounded,  while  the  Mexicans  left  eight  men  dead  on 
the  field.  Soon  afterward  Lieutenant  Heywood  re- 
ceived a  small  re-enforcement  to  his  garrison. 

On  the  22d  of  January,  1848,  the  Mexicans  renewed 
their  attacks  on  this  heroic  little  garrison,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  Midshipmen  Warley  and  Duncan, 
with  six  men,  who  were  on  the  beach  in  front  of  the 
mission  house,  these  men  having  no  intimation  that  the 
enemy  was  in  the  neighborhood  until  a  large  body  of 
cavalry  dashed  along  the  shore.  This  left  Lieutenant 


96  IN  THE  GULF  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1848. 

Heywood  with  only  twenty-seven  marines,  ten  seamen 
and  twenty  volunteers.  It  was  soon  discovered  that 
this  sudden  dash  of  the  Mexican  cavalry  was  only  the 
beginning  of  a  determined  effort  on  their  part  to  crush 
the  feeble  garrison  in  the  mission  house.  Fleeting 
glimpses  of  mounted  horsemen  hovering  in  the  vicinity 
warned  Lieutenant  Heywood  that  the  enemy  was  at 
hand  in  force  and  was  about  to  renew  his  treacherous 
warfare.  By  the  close  of  January  the  mission  house 
was  completely  surrounded,  and  all  avenues  of  retreat 
or  succor  were  cut  off.  The  inhabitants  long  since  had 
fled,  with  the  exception  of  fifty  women  and  children 
who  sought  the  shelter  of  the  fort  and  were  dependent 
on  the  scanty  rations  of  the  garrison.  By  the  4th  of 
February  the  enemy  had  drawn  his  lines  around  the 
mission  house  and  fired  on  all  who  exposed  themselves. 
Finding  that  something  must  be  done  immediately, 
Lieutenant  Heywood,  on  the  6th  of  February,  with  twen- 
ty-five men,  made  a  dash  at  a  party  of  Mexicans  who 
had  taken  a  strong  position  in  a  house  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  street,  and  dislodged  them ;  but  as  the  Ameri- 
cans could  not  spare  men  to  hold  the  place  the  enemy 
returned  to  it  as  soon  as  the  victors  had  retired  to  the 
mission  house.  On  the  following  day  the  Americans 
made  another  successful  sortie,  but  sustained  the  loss 
of  one  man.  Considering  the  overwhelming  force  of 
the  Mexicans,  this  was  a  substantial  victory  for  them, 
for  although  they  lost  fifteen,  killed  or  wounded,  their 
great  numbers  enabled  them  to  withstand  the  loss. 
Evidently  it  was  their  plan  to  worry  the  garrison,  pick- 
ing off  a  man  here  and  there  until  the  Americans  should 
be  so  reduced  that  resistance  would  be  hopeless.  The 
Mexicans  soon  got  complete  possession  of  the  town, 
and,  placing  strong  bodies  of  men  in  a  church  and 
other  buildings  near  the  mission  house,  they  kept  up 
an  incessant  fire.  A  few  days  afterward,  while  passing 
a  window,  Midshipman  McLanahan  was  mortally 
wounded  by  a  bullet  in  the  neck,  and  during  the  fol- 


1848.  A  DESPERATE   ATTACK.  97 

lowing  night  the  enemy  erected  an  earthwork  that  com- 
manded the  place  where  the  Americans  obtained  their 
supply  of  water,  so  that  the  garrison  was  compelled  to 
dig  a  well.  While  they  were  engaged  in  this  arduous 
task,  the  Cyane,  Commander  Dupont,  on  the  evening  of 
February  15th,  appeared  in  the  harbor,  but,  not  under- 
standing the  situation,  made  no  attempt  to  relieve  the 
mission  house  until  the  following  day. 

At  daylight  on  February  16th  Commander  Dupont 
got  out  his  boats  with  ninety-four  seamen  and  marines, 
with  Lieutenants  Rowan  and  Harrison,  Acting-Master 
Fairfax,  Midshipmen  Shepherd,  Lewis  and  Vander- 
horst,  and  Sergeant  Maxwell,  and,  pulling  for  the  beach, 
effected  a  landing.  The  Mexicans  prepared  to  dispute 
the  road  from  the  beach  to  the  mission  house,  and  hav- 
ing the  protection  of  trees,  houses  and  sand  hills,  were 
in  a  position  to  make  a  serious  resistance.  Notwith- 
standing a  galling  fire,  Commander  Dupont  moved 
steadily  on,  returning  the  enemy's  fire  as  well  as  he 
could,  and  fighting  for  every  inch  of  ground  he  passed 
over.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  impetuosity  of  the 
seamen  could  be  restrained,  for  they  were  eager  to  come 
into  close  quarters  with  the  "varmints"  and  "lay  the 
enemy  aboard,"  but  Commander  Dupont  wisely  con- 
cluded that  he  would  lose  the  advantage  of  a  compact 
force  if  his  men  became  scattered  in  a  charge,  and  so 
with  great  patience  he  continued  to  push  his  way 
steadily  toward  the  mission  house.  Step  by  step  the 
Mexicans  were  driven  back,  and  one  vantage  point 
after  another  was  wrested  from  them  by  the  hardy 
Yankee  tars.  The  Cyane  was  unable  to  bring  her  guns 
into  play  without  danger  of  injuring  her  own  people, 
but  the  crew  watched  the  contest  with  great  interest, 
every  success  being  heralded  with  cheers. 

Finding  that  they  had  been  driven  back  almost  to 
the  point  where  the  men  in  the  mission  house  could  fire 
on  them  in  the  rear,  the  Mexicans  made  a  final  stand  at 
the  junction  of  two  streets,  when  Commander  Dupont 

52 


98  IN  THE  GULF  OF  CALIFORNIA.  1848. 

arranged  his  men  for  a  charge  and  at  the  word  they 
rushed  to  the  attack.  Just  at  this  moment  Lieutenant 
Heywood  made  a  sally  from  the  mission  house,  and, 
after  dislodging  a  body  of  Mexicans  in  a  neighboring 
house,  joined  the  forces  under  Commander  Dupont,  and 
being  attacked  in  both  front  and  rear,  the  Mexicans 
broke  and  fled.  In  this  brilliant  affair  the  Americans 
had  three  killed  and  eight  wounded,  while  the  enemy 
had  at  least  thirteen  killed  and  many  more  injured. 

This  was  the  last  serious  effort  of  the  Mexicans  to 
regain  their  ground  on  the  Western  coast,  although  sev- 
eral guerrilla  bands  continued  to  overrun  the  surround- 
ing country.  With  a  view  of  checking  these  maraud- 
ing expeditious,  the  Americans  sent  out  several  parties 
that  succeeded  in  surprising  a  number  of  these  bands. 
By  making  a  forced  march  on  the  night  of  March  15th 
a  detachment  of  the  garrison  at  La  Paz,  commanded  by 
Captain  Steele,  of  the  New  York  regiment,  surprised 
the  Mexican  camp  at  San  Antonio,  put  the  enemy  to 
flight  and  captured  Midshipmen  Warley  and  Duncan 
and  the  six  men  who  had  been  taken  on  the  22d  of  Jan- 
uary on  the  beach  before  the  mission  house  at  San  Jose. 
On  the  20th  of  April  Lieutenant  Heywood  and  his  men 
were  relieved  at  San  Jose  by  a  detachment  of  troops 
from  a  volunteer  regiment  and  returned  to  their  ship. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  Captain  Shubrick  sailed  for 
home  in  the  Independence,  while  Captain  Thomas  ap 
C.  Jones,  in  the  74-gun  ship  of  the  line  Ohio,  became 
commander  of  the  Pacific  squadron. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WAR   IN   THE   MEXICAN   GULF. 

THE  distant  booming  of  artillery  at  the  battle  of 
Palo  Alto,  May  8,  1846,  announced  to  the  American 
squadron  at  Point  Isabel,  under  the  orders  of  Captain 
David  Conner,  that  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  had  begun.  Ignorant  of  the  result  of  that  bat- 
tle, and  fearing  that  the  enemy  might  attack  the  garri- 
son at  Point  Isabel,  where  the  supplies  of  the  army 
were  guarded  by  a  small  body  of  troops  under  Major 
Monroe,  Captain  Conner  landed  five  hundred  seamen 
and  marines  in  charge  of  Captain  Francis  Hoyt  Greg- 
ory, of  the  Raritan,  for  additional  protection.  But 
the  victories  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma  ren- 
dered this  precaution  unnecessary,  and  on  the  18th  of 
May  Captain  John  H.  Aulick,  with  about  two  hundred 
seamen  and  marines,  pulled  fifteen  miles  up  the  Rio 
Grande  in  boats,  and,  effecting  a  junction  with  the 
army,  established  a  post  at  Barita. 

.Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  Captain 
Conner  received  orders  from  the  Government  to  main- 
tain a  vigorous  blockade  of  all  the  Mexican  ports  in 
the  Gulf,  and  in  order  that  these  instructions  might  be 
properly  carried  out  the  following  vessels  were  placed 
under  his  command  :  The  44-gun  frigate  Potomac,  flag- 
ship ;  the  44-gun  frigate  Cumberland,  Captain  Forrest ; 
the  44-gun  frigate  Raritan,  Captain  Gregory  ;  the  10- 
gun  side- wheel  steamer  Mississippi,  Captain  Matthew 
Calbraith  Perry  ;  the  20-gun  sloops  of  war  Falmouth, 
Saratoga,  St.  Mary's,  Albany,  John  Adams ;  the  10- 
gun  brigs  Somers,  Lawrence,  Porpoise,  Perry,  Trux- 

99 


100 


WAR  IN  THE  MEXICAN   GULF. 


1846. 


Isabe/ 


tun  ;  and  the  9-gun  screw  steamer  Princeton.  In  ac- 
cordance with  his  instructions  Captain  Conner  scattered 
his  vessels  along  the  entire  Mexican  coast  from  the  Eio 
Grande  to  the  Tabasco  River,  making  Pensacola  his 
base  of  operations. 

On  the  15th  of  August  he  collected  a  naval  force 
before  Tuspan,  but  while  the  Truxtun  was  endeav- 
oring to  enter  the  harbor  she 
grounded,  and,  being  exposed  to 
a  heavy  lire  from  the  batteries, 
was  compelled  to  surrender.  All 
her  officers  and  men,  with  the 
exception  of  Lieutenant  Hunter 
and  a  boat's  crew,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  This  un- 
fortunate affair  was  shortly  fol- 
lowed by  two  unsuccessful  at- 
tacks upon  Alvarado,  the  most 
important  port  on  the  coast  east 
of  Vera  Cruz.  In  August  Cap- 
tain Conner  dispatched  several 
light-draught  vessels  against  this 
place,  but  they  were  unable  to 
get  over  the  bar.  On  the  16th 
of  October  a  second  attempt  was 
made,  but  this  also  was  unsuc- 


Scene  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Mexican  gulf. 

cessful.  The  Mississippi  managed  to  get  in  range  of 
the  formidable  batteries  of  this  port  and  caused  some 
damage,  while  the  steamer  Vixen,  towing  the  schooners 


1846.  FIRST  FAILURES. 


101 


Bonita  and  Reefer  close  inshore,  ably  supported  her ; 
but  the  steamer  McLane,  while  endeavoring  to  tow 
into  action  the  second  division  of  gunboats,  consisting 
of  the  Nonita,  the  Petrel  and  the  Forward,  grounded 
on  the  bar.  The  attack  was  abandoned  and  the  ves- 
sels returned  to  a  safe  anchorage.  This  inauspicious 
opening  of  naval  operations  in  the  Gulf  greatly  en- 
couraged the  Mexicans,  and  threw  a  shadow  of  dis- 
couragement and  distrust  over  the  American  squadron. 
One  of  the  first  points  to  be  gained  by  the  navy  was 
to  secure  the  neutrality  of  Yucatan,  and  to  this  end  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  capture  Tabasco,  through 
which  town  supplies  could  be  forwarded  to  Mexico. 
On  the  16th  of  October  Captain  Perry  sailed  from  An- 
ton Lizardo,  and  on  the  23d  he  appeared  off  Frontera,  a 
small  port  at  the  mouth  of  Tabasco  River,  with  the 
following  vessels:  The  steamers  Mississippi,  Vixen 
and  McLane,  and  the  schooners  Bonita,  Reefer,  No- 
nita and  Forward,  having  on  board  a  detachment  of 
two  hundred  marines  from  the  Raritan  and  the  Cum- 
berland,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Forrest. 
Frontera  was  the  scene  of  Cortez's  first  battle  on  Mex- 
ican soil.  The  Mexican  shipping  at  this  place  con- 
sisted of  two  steamers  plying  between  Tabasco  and 
Frontera,  one  brig,  one  sloop,  five  schooners  and  many 
boats  and  lighters,  all  admirably  adapted  for  the  diffi- 
cult navigation  of  these  waters.  Having  observed  the 
grounding  of  the  McLane  at  Alvarado,  and  supposing 
that  the  American  steamers  were  too  heavy  to  cross 
the  bar,  the  Mexican  commander  at  Frontera,  General 
Bravo,  dared  the  Americans  to  attack  him.  But  so 
rapid  were  the  movements  of  the  squadron  that  he  was 
taken  by  surprise.  On  arriving  off  the  bar  Captain 
Perry  hastened  aboard  the  Vixen,  and,  with  the  Bonita 
and  Forward  in  tow  and  accompanied  by  a  detach- 
ment of  Captain  Forrest's  men  in  barges,  dashed 
across  the  bar  and  made  all  speed  for  the  Mexican  flo- 
tilla, which  was  moored  in  fancied  security  under  the 


102 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  GULF.  1846. 


guns  of  the  battery.  Great  volumes  of  smoke  were 
observed  ascending  from  the  smokestack  of  the  steam- 
ers, the  largest  of  which  was  the  Petrita,  showing  that 
every  effort  was  being  made  to  get  up  steam  and  escape 
up  the  river  ;  but  before  the  Mexicans  could  effect 
their  object  the  Americans  boarded,  and  ate  a  hot  sup- 
per that  the  Aztecs  had  prepared  for  themselves.  The 
United  States  flag  was  then  hoisted  over  the  town. 

Leaving  Lieutenant  Walsh  with  a  few  men  to  hold 
Frontera,  Captain  Perry,  early  on  the  following  day, 
began  the  difficult  ascent  of  the  river,  hoping  to  come 
upon  the  Mexicans  before  they  had  time  to  strengthen 
their  defenses,  and  the  24th  and  25th  of  October  were 
spent  in  this  ascent,  the  steamers  Vixen  and  Petrita 
towing  the  sailing  vessels.  At  two  o'clock  in,  the  after- 
noon of  the  25th  Captain  Perry  reached  a  difficult  bend 
in  the  rapid  stream  called  the  Devil's  Turn,  a  few  miles 
below  Tabasco,  at  which  point  there  was  a  breastwork 
with  four  long  24-pounders  advantageously  mounted. 
Expecting  some  resistance  at  this  place,  Captain  Perry 
landed  a  detachment  and  marched  upon  the  breast- 
work, but  it  was  found  that  the  enemy  had  retired. 
The  flotilla,  with  the  exception  of  the  McLane,  which 
with  her  usual  luck  had  grounded  some  distance  below, 
arrived  at  Tabasco,  seventy-two  miles  above  Frontera, 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Forming  the  vessels 
in  a  line  so  as  to  sweep  the  principal  streets,  Captain 
Perry  sent  Captain  Forrest  ashore  .with  a  demand  for 
the  surrender  of  the  town  ;  but  the  Governor,  assuming 
a  spirit  of  bravado,  replied,  "Fire  as  soon  as  you 
please."  Three  shots  were  fired  from  the  Vixen,  which 
brought  down  the  flagstaff  on  the  fort,  and  several 
Mexican  officers  then  came  aboard,  begging  that  hostil- 
ities might  cease  until  they  could  negotiate  the  terms 
of  surrender.  Not  wishing  to  inflict  unnecessary  in- 
jury, Captain  Perry  assented,  and  at  five  o'clock  Cap- 
tain Forrest  with  two  hundred  men  landed,  but  as  they 
were  awaiting  the  word  to  advance  they  were  fired 


1846.  EXPEDITION  TO  TABASCO.  103 

upon  by  Mexican  troops  concealed  in  a  chaparral. 
The  Americans  returned  the  fire  as  well  as  they  could 
until  night  came  on,  when  they  retired  to  the  flotilla. 
At  daylight  the  next  morning  (October  26th)  the  Mexi- 
cans opened  fire  on  the  vessels,  but  were  silenced  after 
a  few  discharges  of  grape  and  canister.  A  delegation 
of  the  principal  inhabitants  and  foreign  residents  now 
waited  upon  Captain  Perry,  and  assured  him  that  the 
firing  had  been  done  against  the  wishes  of  the  people 
and  that  they  desired  to  surrender. 

Having  effected  the  object  of  the  expedition,  Cap- 
tain Perry  prepared  to  move  down  the  river.  One  of 
his  prizes,  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  William  A.  Parker 
and  eighteen  men,  ran  hard  aground,  and  while  in  this 
condition  it  was  attacked  by  eighty  Mexican  soldiers. 
Lieutenant  Parker  defended  himself  gallantly,  and 
although  one  of  his  men  was  killed  and  two  were 
wounded,  he  succeeded  in  holding  the  enemy  at  bay. 
Observing  the  difficulty  he  was  in,  Captain  Perry  sent 
Lieutenant  Charles  W.  Morris  to  re-enforce  him. 
Lieutenant  Morris  passed  the  gantlet  of  musketry  from 
both  sides  of  the  river,  but  while  standing  up  in  his 
boat  and  cheering  his  men  he  was  mortally  wounded 
and  fell  back  into  the  arms  of  Midshipman  Cheever. 
He  died  November  1st  in  the  Cumberland,  and  was 
buried  on  Salmadina  Island.  For  this  treachery  Cap- 
tain Perry  opened  a  fire  on  the  town,  which  he  kept 
up  for  half  an  hour.  The  American  flotilla  arrived  at 
Frontera  at  midnight ;  but  the  prize  Alvarado,  ground- 
ing on  the  shoals  at  Devil's  Turn,  was  blown  up.  One 
of  the  prizes,  the  Champion,  a  fast  river  boat,  which 
had  run  between  Norfolk  and  Richmond,  was  taken 
into  the  service  as  a  dispatch  boat  and  placed  under 
the  command  of  Lieutenant  Lockwood. 

Leaving  the  McLane  and  the  Forward  to  maintain 
the  blockade  off  Frontera,  Captain  Perry  returned  to 
Anton  Lizardo,  where  he  rejoined  the  squadron  under 
Captain  Conner.  On  the  20th  of  September  Captain 


101  WAR  IN  THE  MEXICAN  GULF.  1846. 

Perry,  with  the  Mississippi,  the  Vixen,  the  Bonita 
and  the  Petrel,  took  possession  of  Laguna,  where  he 
left  Commander  Joshua  Ratoon  Sands  with  the  Vixen 
and  the  Petrel  to  watch  the  place,  while  Lieutenant 
Benham,  of  the  Bonita,  was  made  commanding  officer 
of  the  vessels  collected  off  Tabasco  River. 

In  order  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  enemy  from 
the  main  object  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Gulf, 
which  was  the  capture  of  Yera  Cruz,  several  expedi- 
tions of  minor  importance  were  undertaken.  Learning 
from  the  wife  of  the  American  consul  at  Tampico  that 
no  resistance  would  be  made  to  an  attack  on  that  place, 
Captain  Conner,  on  the  14th  of  November,  collected 
the  following  vessels  before  that  town:  The Raritan, 
the  Potomac,  the  Mississippi,  the  Princeton,  the  8t. 
Mary's,  the  Vixen,  the  Nonita,  the  Bonita,  the  Spit- 
fire and  the  Petrel,  besides  one  hundred  seamen  and 
marines  from  the  Cumberland.  Santa  Anna,  the  Mex- 
ican general,  endeavored  to  raise  an  army  of  deserters 
from  the  American  forces,  and  made  particular  efforts 
to  induce  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics  to  desert.  A  dis- 
tinct brigade  of  the  Mexican  army  was  formed  under 
the  name  of  Santo  Patrico,  and  seventy  to  eighty  men 
were  enlisted  in  it,  but  as  a  rule  the  Irish  were  loyal 
to  their  colors.  The  smaller  vessels  immediately 
crossed  the  bar,  and,  landing  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  took  possession  of  the  town  without  opposition. 
Two  merchant  vessels  and  three  gunboats  were  cap- 
tured. From  this  place  Commander  Josiah  Tattnall 
proceeded  with  the  Spitfire  and  the  Petrel  eighty  miles 
up  Panuca  River  to  a  small  town  of  the  same  name, 
and  on  the  19th  of  November  he  destroyed  all  the  mu- 
nitions of  war  collected  there. 

On  the  night  of  November  20th,  while  the  brig 
Somers  was  on  blockade  duty,  off  Vera  Cruz,  a  boat 
put  out  from  that  vessel  containing  Lieutenant  Parker, 
Passed-Midshipmen  Rogers  and  Hynson  and  five  sea- 
men, boldly  entered  the  harbor  and  boarded  the  bark 


1846.  CUTTING   OUT  TOE  CREOLE. 


105 


Creole,  laden  with  munitions  of  war  and  securely  an- 
chored under  the  guns  of  the  castle.  Lieutenant 
Parker  surprised  the  guard  of  the  brig,  and  after 
burning  her  escaped  without  injury,  thus  adding  an- 
other to  the  list  of  brilliant  cutting-out  expeditions  for 
which  the  American  navy  is  famous.  Shortly  after 
this  Passed-Midshipman  Rogers  and  Surgeon  Wright, 
of  the  Somers,  while  on  shore  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining a  better  view  of  the  fortifications  around  Vera 
Cruz,  were  surprised  by  a  party  of  Mexican  soldiers. 
Surgeon  Wright  escaped,  but  Mr.  Rogers  was  captured 
and  taken  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  he  narrowly 
escaped  being  hanged  as  a  spy  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  wore  his  uniform.  Afterward  Mr.  Rogers  escaped, 
and  with  Lieutenant  Raphael  Semmes  joined  General 
Scott's  army  before  Maxico,  and  served  with  distinc- 
tion in  the  military  operations  against  that  city.  On 
the  8th  of  December,  while  chasing  a  blockade  runner, 
the  Somers  capsized,  carrying  down  with  her  Acting- 
Master  Clem  son,  Passed-Midshipman  Hynson  and 
nearly  forty  men,  constituting  half  of  her  crew.  The 
John  Adams  and  the  boats  of  English,  French  and 
Spanish  war  vessels  near  by  assisted  in  rescuing  the 
remainder  of  her  crew.  Congress  afterward  awarded 
gold  and  silver  medals  to  the  foreign  officers  who  en- 
gaged in  this  work. 

It  was  not  the  Mexicans  alone  that  our  officers  and 
sailors  were  called  upon  to  fight.  They  were  con- 
stantly exposed  to  malaria  and  fever  arising  from  the 
low  swampy  grounds  along  the  coast  near  which  the 
vessels  were  compelled  to  anchor.  Decayed  kelp 
along  the  shores  caused  a  sour,  nauseating  effluvia  to 
hang  over  the  ships  at  night,  which  soon  became  more 
fatal  than  the  enemy's  bullets.  Myriads  of  insects, 
coming  from  the  malaria- laden  districts,  attacked  the 
men  night  and  day  and  inoculated  them  with  disease. 
Frequent  night  attacks  of  roving  bands  of  guerrillas 
compelled  the  men  to  turn  out  and  stand  by  their 


IQQ  WAR  IN  THE  MEXICAN  GULP.  1846-1847. 

guns  until  daybreak,  exposing  them  to  the  drenching 
dews  and  poisonous  miasma.  The  sick  list  increased 
at  an  alarming  rate,  and  the  sick  bay  was  always 
crowded.  In  one  week  four  officers  died,  and  the  staff 
of  surgeons  was  so  reduced  that  at  one  time  there  was 
only  one  physician  for  seven  ships,  and  only  two  assist- 
ants in  the  hospitals.  In  July,  1847,  yellow  fever 
broke  out  in  the  Mississippi,  and  she  was  sent  to 
Pensacola.  Captain  Perry  himself  was  taken  down 
with  sickness,  but,  changing  his  flag  to  the  German- 
town,  July  16,  1847,  he  returned  to  the  scene  of  op- 
erations. The  difficulty  of  securing  fresh  provisions 
also  brought  on  symptoms  of  scurvy,  and  with  the 
view  of  giving  the  men  something  besides  salt  meat  the 
several  ports  along  the  coast  were  occupied  through- 
out the  war. 

Having  diverted  the  enemy's  attention  from  the 
great  object  the  Americans  had  in  view— the  capture 
of  Yera  Cruz — Captain  Conner  collected  a  fleet  of  sev- 
enty vessels  of  war  and  transports,  having  on  board 
General  Scott's  army  of  12,603  men,  before  Vera  Cruz 
early  in  March.  This  town  was  the  scene  of  Cortez's 
landing,  and  of  the  French  debarkation  in  1830,  and 
again  in  1865.  It  was  strongly  defended  by  massive 
walls  of  masonry  and  by  the  famous  castle  of  San  Juan 
d'Ulloa,  which  was  on  an  island  in  the  harbor,  half  a 
mile  from  the  shore.  The  defenses  were  under  the 
command  of  German  artillerymen.  In  order  that  such 
a  large  number  of  men  might  be  quickly  landed  in  the 
face  of  an  enemy,  sixty-five  boats,  about  thirty-five  feet 
long,  were  constructed.  At  sunrise,  March  9th,  the 
steamers  Spitfire  and  Vixen,  with  the  gunboats  Petrel, 
Bonita,  Reefer,  Falcon  and  Tampico,  ran  close  inshore 
on  the  island  of  Sacrificios  to  cover  the  landing,  as  it 
was  thought  that  the  enemy  might  be  concealed  be- 
hind sand  hills,  but  after  a  few  discharges  of  grape 
and  canister  only  a  few  horsemen  were  routed.  The 
troops  were  landed  in  beautiful  style.  At  a  signal  the 


1847.  BOMBARDMENT  OF  VERA   CRUZ.  JQ7 

boats  put  out  from  the  frigates  and  transports  for  the 
beach,  and  as  fast  as  the  men  were  landed  they  occu- 
pied the  sand  hills,  each  regiment  planting  its  stand- 
ard and  collecting  its  men  around  it.  By  ten  o'clock 
that  night  ten  thousand  men  with  arms,  ammunition 
and  provisions  had  been  landed. 

At  dawn  of  March  10th  the  Spitfire  ran  into  the 
harbor,  and  when  within  a  short  mile  of  the  castle 
opened  a  spirited  fire  on  the  town  and  batteries,  which 
was  maintained  two  hours,  when  she  was  ordered  back. 
From  a  Mexican  newspaper  that  found  its  way  into 
the  squadron  a  few  days  afterward  it  was  learned  that 
many  of  her  shells  had  been  thrown  into  the  heart  of 
the  city  and  to  the  gate  of  the  market  place.  The 
chief  purpose  of  the  Spitfire's  attack  was  to  discover 
the  position  of  the  Mexican  guns,  and  as  the  enemy 
promptly  returned  the  cannonading  from  every  gun 
that  would  bear,  this  was  accomplished.  From  the 
10th  to  the  20th  of  March  the  army  was  occupied  in 
getting  batteries  into  position,  and  in  the  meantime 
the  enemy  kept  up  a  desultory  fire,  which  did  consid- 
erable injury.  On  the  20th  of  March  Captain  Perry 
arrived,  and  on  the  21st  he  superseded  Captain  Conner 
in  command  of  the  Gulf  fleet. 

The  Mexicans  had  entertained  great  hopes  of  yellow 
fever  breaking  out  in  the  American  squadron  and  do- 
ing more  injury  than  they  could  expect  to  do  with 
their  cannon.  Vera  Cruz  was  the  breeding  place  of 
the  disease,  and  March  was  one  of  the  months  in  which 
it  assumed  its  most  malignant  form.  The  Americans 
were  in  great  danger  from  this  lurking  enemy,  for  mos- 
quitoes and  flies  from  the  shore  visited  the  ships  in 
myriads  and  carried  the  germs  of  the  disease  in  their 
bites.  Another  peril  to  which  the  Americans  were  ex- 
posed, and  on  which  the  enemy  counted,  was  the 
strong  northerly  gales  which  swept  the  approaches  to 
the  harbor  with  great  fury.  In  the  gale  of  March  21st 
the  Hunter  went  down,  and  it  was  only  by  the  greatest 


108  WAR  IN  TIIE  MEXICAN  GULP.  1847. 

exertions  that  Captain  Perry  managed  to  rescue  her 
crew  of  sixty  men. 

On  the  22d  of  March  a  formal  demand  was  made 
for  the  surrender  of  Vera  Cruz,  which  was  haughtily 
rejected,  and  two  guns  were  fired  in  defiance.  On  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  the  Americans  opened  lire 
from  their  batteries,  and  the  Mexicans  replied  with 
spirit.  Desiring  to  come  to  closer  quarters,  Commander 
Tattnall  on  the  23d  of  March  got  his  division,  consist- 
ing of  the  steamers  Spitfire  and  Vixen  and  five  schoon- 
ers, under  way,  and  leaving  one  of  the  schooners  at 
Point  Honorios  opened  fire  on  the  city.  To  draw  the 
enemy's  attention  from  that  point,  he  boldly  stood  out 
to  sea  as  if  he  intended  to  rejoin  the  squadron  at  Sac- 
rificios  ;  but  on  clearing  the  shoal  water  at  Point  Ho- 
norios he  suddenly  changed  his  course,  and,  leading  his 
division  directly  for  the  castle,  hove  to  within  grape- 
shot  of  bastion  San  lago  and  opened  a  tremendous  fire. 
The  Mexicans  were  either  taken  completely  by  surprise 
or  hoped  to  lure  the  boats  to  certain  destruction,  as 
they  thought,  for  they  did  not  fire  a  shot  until  the  six 
little  vessels  hove  to  and  began  their  fire.  Then  began 
a  terrific  cannonading  from  all  the  Mexican  guns  that 
would  bear,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  division  was 
doomed.  "All  expected  to  see  us  sunk,  and  that  we 
escaped  without  loss  is  a  miracle.  The  shot  and  shell 
rained  around  us  and  kept  the  water  in  a  foam,  and  yet 
but  three  of  the  vessels  were  struck,  two  of  the  schoon- 
ers and  the  Spitfire,  the  last  by  a  shell  which  exploded 
directly  under  the  quarter  and  knocked  a  plank  out  of 
the  quarter  boat.  Not  a  man  was  hurt."1  For  an 
hour  this  terrific  cannonading  was  kept  up,  when  Tatt- 
nall slowly  retired,  cheered  by  the  men  of  General 
Worth's  army.  Even  before  this  affair  Commander 
Tattnall  had  won  the  reputation  of  being  an  intrepid 
and  fearless  officer.  While  a  lieutenant  in  command 

1  Commander  Tattnall  in  a  private  letter. 


1847.  TATTNALL'S  AUDACIOUS  ATTACK.  1Q9 

of  the  Pioneer  (1835)  he  was  ordered  to  convey  Santa 
Anna,  who  had  recently  been  captured  by  the  Texans, 
to  Vera  Cruz.  At  that  time  the  Mexican  leader  was 
exceedingly  unpopular  in  his  own  country,  and  it  was 
freely  predicted  that  he  would  be  shot  the  moment  he 
placed  his  foot  on  Mexican  soil.  Arriving  at  Vera 
Cruz,  Lieutenant  Tattnall  landed  with  his  passenger. 
Crowds  of  angry  citizens  and  soldiers  awaited  them, 
but,  boldly  taking  Santa  Anna's  arm  under  his  own, 
the  American  lieutenant  walked  up  the  main  street. 
The  crowds  for  a  time  gazed  upon  the  two  unprotected 
men  in  silent  amazement  until  they  reached  a  guard 
of  soldiers  who  saluted,  when  the  crowds  burst  into 
cheers.  Lieutenant  Tattnall  remained  with  Santa  Anna 
several  days,  until  the  Mexican  could  gather  his  friends 
around  him.  The  course  taken  by  the  young  lieuten- 
ant undoubtedly  saved  Santa  Anna's  life. 

On  the  21st  of  March  General  Scott  asked  Captain 
Perry  for  the  loan  of  six  heavy  shell  guns  from  the 
fleet.  Captain  Perry  replied :  "Certainly,  general,  but 
I  must  fight  them."  Scott  was  anxious  to  man  the 
guns  with  his  own  troops,  but  Captain  Perry,  ever  jeal- 
ous of  the  reputation  of  the  navy,  said,  "  Wherever  the 
guns  go  their  officers  and  men  must  go  with  them." 
General  Scott  finally  consented  to  the  formation  of  a 
naval  battery,  and  within  an  hour  after  obtaining  this 
permission  Captain  Perry  manned  his  boat,  and,  pulling 
under  the  stern  of  each  of  the  war  vessels,  announced 
that  guns  were  to  be  landed  from  the  fleet  and  manned 
by  seamen.  The  news  was  received  with  cheers.  A 
position  known  as  Battery  No.  4,  opposite  Fort  Santa 
Barbara,  was  assigned  to  the  naval  battery.  Two  32- 
pounders  from  the  Potomac^  one  32-pounder  from  the 
Raritan,  one  68-pound  Paixhan  from  the  Mississippi, 
one  from  the  Albany  and  one  from  the  St.  Mary*s 
were  landed  at  night,  with  double  crews,  the  junior 
officers  casting  lots  for  the  service.  This  battery  "was 
constructed  entirely  of  sand  sewed  up  in  bags.  It  had 


110 


WAR  IN   THE  MEXICAN  GULF.  1847. 


two  traverses  six  or  more  feet  thick,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  resist  a  flanking  fire.  The  guns  were 
mounted  on  their  own  ship's  carriages  on  platforms, 
being  run  out  with  side  tackles  and  handspikes  and 
their  recoil  checked  with  sand  bags.  The  balls  were 
stacked  within  the  sandy  walls,  but  the  magazine  was 
stationed  some  distance  in  rear.  The  cartridges  were 
served  by  the  powder  boys,  as  on  shipboard,  a  small 
trench  being  dug  for  their  protection  while  not  in 
transit." x 

Having  obtained  the  exact  distance  to  the  eaemy's 
batteries  by  a  system  of  triangulation,  the  naval  bat- 
tery was  ready  for  service  shortly  before  ten  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  March  24th.  Just  as  the  last  gun  was 
being  cleared  of  sand  and  sponged  the  Mexicans  dis- 
covered the  battery  and  opened  fire  with  a  good  aim 
that  showed  they  had  determined  the  range  some  time 
before.  This  fire  was  the  signal  for  seven  forts  to  con- 
centrate their  attention  on  Battery  No.  4,  and  10-  and 
13-inch  shells  were  dropping  around  the  seamen  with 
uncomfortable  frequency.  Captain  Aulick,  who  com- 
manded the  battery  the  first  day,  responded  with  spirit, 
and  began  pounding  away  at  the  enemy  in  true  man- 
of-war  style.  Such  was  the  precision  of  his  fire  that  a 
shot  aimed  by  Lieutenant  Baldwin  carried  away  the 
flagstaff  of  Fort  Santa  Barbara.  This  was  greeted  with 
tremendous  cheering,  but  a  moment  afterward  Lieuten- 
ant D.  Sebastian  Holzinger,  a  German  officer  in  the 
employ  of  the  Mexicans,  with  a  young  assistant  leaped 
over  the  parapet,  recovered  the  flag  and  nailed  it  to  the 
stump  of  its  staff,  although  at  one  time  he  was  nearly 
covered  with  the  debris  thrown  up  by  American  shot. 

So  rapid  and  well  sustained  was  the  fire  of  the 
naval  battery  that  by  half  past  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  its  ammunition  was  exhausted,  and  Midship- 
man Fauntleroy  was  sent  to  Captain  Perry  with  a  re- 

1  Griffis'  Life  of  Captain  Perry,  p.  227. 


1847.  WORK  OF  THE  NAVAL  BATTERY.  m 

quest  for  more.  At  four  o'clock  a  relief  party  under 
Captain  Isaac  Mayo  (who  had  served  as  a  midshipman 
in  the  Hornet- Penguin  fight)  arrived  and  continued 
the  work  of  hammering  the  Mexican  forts.  This  was 
done  so  effectually  that,  although  the  walls  were  built 
of  massive  shell  rock,  the  naval  battery  soon  cut 
through  the  curtains  of  the  redoubt  to  the  right  and 
left  and  finally  made  a  breach  thirty-six  feet  wide  ; 
but  at  night  the  enemy  filled  the  gap  with  sand  bags. 
On  this  day  Lieutenant  Baldwin,  of  the  St.  Mary's,  was 
wounded.  During  the  night  the  sailors  were  employed 
repairing  the  breastworks,  while  the  mortar  schooners 
every  now  and  then  circled  the  sky  with  beautiful 
flights  of  shells.  At  daylight,  March  25th,  the  naval 
battery  renewed  its  fire,  and  the  Mexicans  concentrated 
four  batteries  on  this  earthwork,  aiming  even  more  ac- 
curately than  the  day  before.  Early  in  the  day  one  of 
their  shells  dropped  in  the  battery  but  did  no  damage, 
and  several  of  their  solid  shot  entered  the  embrasures, 
which  were  unusually  wide  to  admit  of  a  larger  sweep 
of  the  guns. 

Seeing  that  the  castle  was  paying  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  naval  battery,  Captain  Perry  ordered  the 
Spitfire,  Commander  Tattnall,  and  the  Vixen,  Com- 
mander Sands,  each  having  two  gunboats  in  tow,  to 
run  into  the  harbor  and  divert  the  enemy's  attention. 
"What  point  shall  I  engage,  sir?"  asked  Tattnall. 
"Where  you  can  do  the  most  execution,  sir,"  was  the 
reply ;  and  taking  him  at  his  word,  the  young  com- 
mander stood  into  the  harbor  in  the  most  audacious 
manner,  and,  forming  a  line  about  eighty  yards  from 
the  castle,  opened  a  furious  cannonade.  Not  satisfied 
with  this,  he  stood  in  still  closer,  actually  taking  a 
position  within  the  Punto  de  Hornos,  where  for  half 
an  hour  he  was  the  center  of  a  terrific  fire.  His  vessels 
were  almost  hidden  in  the  spray  raised  by  the  storm 
of  iron  that  rained  around  them,  but  either  the  bold- 
ness of  the  attack  or  the  nearness  of  the  vessels  pre- 


112  WAR  IN   THE  MEXICAN   GULF.  1847. 

vented  the  Mexicans  from  inflicting  any  considerable 
injury.  Fearing  that  the  little  vessels  would  be  blown 
to  atoms,  Perry  signaled  them  to  retire ;  but  Com- 
mander Tattnall  either  could  not  or  would  not  see  the 
signal  and  continued  his  attack.  Captain  Perry  finally 
sent  a  boat  with  peremptory  orders  for  the  return  of 
the  division.  Loath  to  give  up  his  congenial  occupa- 
tion, Commander  Tattnall  retired  slowly  with  his  face 
to  the  enemy,  keeping  up  his  fire  as  long  as  the  guns 
would  bear. 

Fort  San  lago  now  opened  its  fire  on  the  naval  bat- 
tery, but  after  Captain  Mayo  had  turned  several  guns 
on  it  it  was  silenced,  and  about  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  enemy  abandoned  it.  Jumping  on  a 
horse,  the  gallant  captain  hastened  with  the  news  to 
the  army.  "As  he  rode  through  the  camp  Gfeneral 
Scott  was  walking  in  front  of  his  tent.  Captain  Mayo 
rode  up  to  him  and  said,  '  General,  they  are  done  ;  they 
will  never  fire  another  shot.'  The  general  in  great 
agitation  asked,  '  Who  ?  your  battery — the  naval  bat- 
tery?' Mayo  answered,  'No,  general,  the  enemy  is 
silenced.'  General  Scott,  in  his  joy,  almost  pulled  Cap- 
tain Mayo  off  his  horse,  saying,  '  Commodore,  I  thank 
you  and  our  brothers  of  the  navy  in  the  name  of  the 
army  for  this  day's  work.' "  l 

In  the  two  days'  fight  the  naval  battery  had  four 
men  killed,  struck  mostly  by  solid  shot  on  the  head  or 
breast,  while  five  officers  and  five  sailors  were  wounded. 
Many  of  these  men  were  hurt  by  splinters  from  yucca 
or  cactus  bushes  in  the  chaparral.  Among  the  killed 
was  Midshipman  Thomas  Brandford  Shubrick,  a  son 
of  Captain  Irvine  Shubrick.  He  had  just  arrived  on 
the  scene  of  action  in  the  Mississippi,  and  went  to  the 
battery  full  of  life  and  enthusiasm.  While  in  the  act 
of  aiming  a  gun  at  the  tower  he  was  struck  by  a  solid 
shot,  which  took  off  his  head.  Commander  Tattnall, 

1  Griffis'  Life  of  Captain  Perry,  p.  235, 


1847.  LOSSES  IN  THE  NAVAL  BATTERY.  113 

who  visited  the  naval  battery  during  the  engagement, 
describes  his  experiences  as  follows:  "I  landed  and 
walked  to  our  battery  on  the  first  day,  and  on  reaching 
it  saw  stretched  in  a  cart  and  dead  a  most  noble  sea- 
man, an  old  boatswain's  mate  of  mine  in  the  Saratoga. 
His  fine  manly  face,  calm  and  unchanged,  I  could  not 
mistake.  Another  poor  fellow  was  lying  in  a  cart  se- 
verely wounded,  to  whom  I  offered  a  few  words  of  con- 
dolence. In  a  few  minutes  afterward,  when  they  had 
removed  him  to  what  was  deemed  a  place  of  safety,  he 
was  again  wounded." l 

While  this  attack  was  in  progress  Captain  Perry 
planned  a  boat  attack  on  the  water  batteries  of  Yera 
Cruz  for  the  night  of  March  25th,  which  he  proposed  to 
lead  in  person.  The  boats  were  formed  in  a  column, 
and  studding-sail  booms  of  the  Mississippi  were  made 
into  ladders.  But  before  these  plans  could  be  put 
into  execution  the  Mexicans  sounded  a  parley  from 
the  city  walls,  and  at  8  A.  M.  the  firing  ceased.  On  the 
26th  of  March  a  heavy  gale  set  in  from  the  north,  which 
blew  twenty-six  transports  to  shore.  In  one  of  the 
gales  a  brig,  fouling  the  Potomac,  lost  her  masts.  On 
the  28th  of  March  the  town  was  unconditionally  sur- 
rendered, and  on  the  following  day  the  army  and  navy 
took  possession.  Captains  Aulick  and  Alexander  Sli- 
dell  Mackenzie  represented  the  navy  in  the  negotia- 
tions. 

The  capture  of  Vera  Cruz  opened  the  way  for  the 
army  to  march  upon  the  capital  by  the  shortest  route. 
Being  greatly  in  need  of  horses,  General  Scott  asked 
for  the  co-operation  of  the  navy  in  securing  a  number 
of  animals  that  the  Mexicans  had  collected  at  Alva- 
rado.  The  steamer  Scourge,  Lieutenant  Charles  G. 
Hunter,  was  immediately  ordered  to  blockade  the  port, 
while  Captain  Perry  was  to  follow  with  a  larger  naval 
force.  General  Quitman  in  the  meantime  was  to  pro- 


1  Commander  Tattnall  in  a  private  letter. 


H4  WAR  IN  THE  MEXICAN  GULF.  1847. 

ceed  by  land  and  cut  off  the  enemy's  retreat.  Lieu- 
tenant Hunter  reached  the  bar  off  Alvarado  on  the  30th 
of  March,  but  he  allowed  his  zeal  to  exceed  his  instruc- 
tions, and  began  an  immediate  attack  on  the  defenses 
of  the  place.  On  the  following  day  the  enemy  retired 
up  the  river,  leaving  Lieutenant  Hunter  in  quiet  pos- 
session of  the  town  and  four  schooners.  Sixty  guns 
were  captured,  thirty-five  of  which  were  shipped  to 
the  United  States  as  mementoes  of  the  war.  Leaving 
a  garrison  at  Alvarado,  Lieutenant  Hunter  hastened 
up  the  river,  chasing  the  enemy  to  Tlacahalpa,  which 
he  also  took  without  opposition.  Thus  the  apparent 
object  of  the  mission  was  accomplished  before  Captain 
Perry  arrived,  April  2d ;  but  the  overhaste  of  Lieuten- 
ant Hunter  enabled  the  Mexicans  to  escape  through 
the  mountain  passes  with  the  greatly  desired  horses 
before  General  Quitman  could  cut  off  their  retreat. 
Lieutenant  Hunter  was  tried  by  court-martial  and  dis- 
missed from  the  service.  Captain  Mayo  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  government  of  Alvarado,  and  occupied 
his  time  in  securing  the  submission  of  towns  in  the 
interior,  the  majority  of  which  meekly  submitted  ;  but 
in  one  of  these  expeditions  some  resistance  was  offered, 
and  an  American  pfficer  and  five  men  were  wounded. 

In  carrying  out  his  plan  of  occupying  every  port  on 
the  coast  through  which  the  Mexicans  could  obtain 
supplies,  Captain  Perry  next  turned  his  attention  to 
Tuspan,  off  which  port  the  brig  of  war  Truxtun  had 
been  lost  the  year  before.  The  American  squadron 
appeared  off  the  town  on  the  17th  of  April,  but  owing 
to  shoal  water  only  the  light- draught  vessels  could  get 
over  the  bar.  The  place  was  defended  by  a  fort  on  the 
right  and  one  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  many  of 
the  guns  of  which  had  been  taken  from  the  ill-fated 
Truxtun.  The  batteries  were  admirably  situated  for 
sweeping  all  approaches  from  the  sea,  and  the  guns 
were  manned  by  six  hundred  and  fifty  Mexican  sol- 
diers under  General  Cos.  On  the  18th  of  April  Captain 


1847.  FALL  OF  TUSPAN.  115 

Perry  led  the  attack  in  the  Spitfire  with  fifteen  hun- 
dred officers,  seamen  and  marines,  and  four  pieces  of 
artillery.  Captain  Samuel  Livingston  Breese  com- 
manded the  landing  detachment.  As  soon  as  the  as- 
sailants were  within  range  the  Mexicans  opened  a 
spirited  fire,  both  from  their  batteries  and  with  mus- 
ketry on  shore  ;  but  the  Americans  steadily  advanced, 
and  they  fell  back.  The  loss  of  the  Americans  in  this 
affair  was  three  killed  and  five  officers  and  six  seamen 
wounded. 

Having  secured  all  the  ports  on  this  coast,  the  Gov- 
ernment decided  to  raise  the  blockade,  in  order  that 
commerce  might  be  resumed  and  the  revenues  redound 
to  the  benefit  of  its  treasury.  Cruising  along  the  coast, 
Captain  Perry  destroyed  a  fort  mounting  twelve  guns 
at  Coazacoalcos.  Leaving  the  bomb  vessel  Stromboli 
on  guard  at  this  place,  and  the  Albany  and  the  Reefer 
at  Tuspan,  Captain  Perry  turned  his  attention  to  Ta- 
basco, which  place,  as  no  garrison  had  been  left  to  hold 
it,  had  again  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  On 
the  14th  of  June  he  collected  the  following  vessels  off 
Frontera  :  The  Mississippi,  the  Raritan,  the  Albany, 
the  John  Adams,  the  Decatur,  the  Germantown,  the 
Strombolf,  the  Vesuvius,  the  Washington,  the  Scor- 
pion, the  Spitfire,  the  Scourge,  the  Vixen,  the  Etna 
and  the  Bonita.  Entering  the  river  with  the  light- 
draught  vessels  on  the  same  day,  Captain  Perry  shifted 
his  flag  to  the  Scorpion  and  began  the  difficult  ascent 
of  the  stream.  As  the  flotilla  was  approaching  Devil's 
Bend  it  was  suddenly  attacked  by  one  hundred  Mexi- 
cans concealed  in  the  dense  chaparral  on  the  banks. 
Captain  Perry  was  standing  on  the  deck  of  the  Scor- 
pion under  an  awning,  and  miraculously  escaped  in- 
jury, although  the  canvas  and  woodwork  of  the  steamer 
were  riddled  with  shot.  The  Scorpion,  the  Washing- 
ton and  the  surf  boats  returned  the  fire,  and  soon 
afterward  a  10-inch  shell  from  the  Vesuvius  dispersed 
the  Mexicans. 


HQ  WAR  IN  THE  MEXICAN  GULF.  1847. 

At  six  o'clock  the  vessels  anchored  for  the  night 
near  Seven  Palm  Trees,  and,  as  a  precaution  against 
surprise,  barricades  of  hammocks  were  so  arranged  as 
to  resist  a  night  attack.  Shortly  after  midnight  a  vol- 
ley of  musketry  from  the  bushes  startled  the  Amer- 
icans, but  as  it  was  not  followed  by  a  general  attack 
the  men  returned  to  their  rest.  On  the  following  morn- 
ing Lieutenant  William  May,  while  pulling  ahead  in 
a  boat  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  channel,  was 
wounded  by  a  party  of  Mexicans  concealed  in  a  breast- 
work called  La  Comena.  Finding  that  the  navigation 
of  the  river  at  this  point  had  been  obstructed  by  the 
Mexicans,  Captain  Perry  landed  with  a  detachment  of 
his  men  and  ten  guns,  with  a  view  of  attacking  the 
fort  from  the  rear.  The  banks  of  the  river  at  this 
point  were  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  high  and  almost 
perpendicular,  and  it  was  only  by  the  united  efforts  of 
many  men  that  the  cannon  were  hoisted  up.  The 
enemy  evidently  supposed  this  movement  was  impossi- 
ble, and  was  taken  completely  by  surprise. 

Rapidly  forming  the  line  of  march.  Captain  Perry, 
with  the  pioneers  under  Lieutenant  Maynard,  led  the 
way  toward  the  rear  of  the  fort,  closely  followed  by 
the  marines  under  Captain  Edson  and  the-  artillery 
under  Captain  Mackenzie,  Captain  Mayo  acting  as  ad- 
jutant general.  At  a  place  called  Acahapan  he  came 
upon  the  Mexicans  with  two  pieces  of  artillery  strongly 
intrenched,  but  they  fled  on  the  approach  of  the  Amer- 
icans. As  Captain  Perry's  little  army  came  in  sight  of 
the  fort,  the  gunboats  under  Lieutenant  David  Dixon 
Porter,  which  had  gallantly  advanced  up  the  river  in 
spite  of  their  exposed  position  to  co-operate  with  the 
land  forces,  were  greeted  with  cheers.  Captain  Perry's 
men  then  rushed  to  the  assault,  while  the  veteranos, 
leaving  their  cooked  meal  behind,  fled.  Advancing 
about  a  mile  farther  up  the  river,  the  Americans  at- 
tacked Fort  Iturbide,  mounting  six  guns.  One  of  the 
shot  from  the  fort  struck  the  Spitfire's  wheel,  but  did 


1847.  SECOND   ATTACK   ON  TABASCO.  117 

not  disable  her.  Observing  that  the  enemy  was  flinch- 
ing from  his  guns,  Lieutenant  Porter  landed  with  sixty- 
eight  men,  and  carried  the  fort  by  assault.  The  way 
to  Tabasco  was  now  clear,  and  the  town  was  taken  pos- 
session of  on  the  16th  by  a  detachment  from  the  Scor- 
pion and  the  Spitfire  under  Lieutenant  Sidney  Smith 
Lee.  During  the  land  attack  on  the  forts  several  of 
the  Americans  were  overcome  by  the  heat  and  the  ex- 
ertion of  dragging  the  heavy  ordnance  through  the 
mud.  The  total  loss  of  the  Americans  in  this  expedi- 
tion was  two  officers  and  seven  seamen  wounded. 

After  remaining  here  six  days,  Captain  Perry  left 
the  Scorpion,  the  Etna,  the  Spitfire  and  the  Scourge, 
with  four  hundred  and  twenty  men  under  Commander 
Abraham  Bigelow,  as  a  garrison,  and  returned  to  Fron- 
tera.  On  the  25th  of  June  seventy  Mexicans  made  a 
sudden  attack  on  a  party  of  twenty  seamen  who  were 
on  shore  at  Tabasco.  A  short  struggle  followed  before 
the  enemy  was  repelled,  in  which  the  Americans  had 
one  man  wounded  and  the  Mexicans  had  one  killed 
and  six  wounded.  That  night  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Mexican  soldiers  made  an  attack  on  the  guard  in  the 
plaza,  but  were  repelled.  Captain  Bigelow  improved 
his  time  by  sending  out  small  parties  to  subdue  roving 
bands  of  Mexican  soldiers  that  occupied  the  ranchos 
in  the  outskirts  of  Tabasco.  On  the  30th  of  June  he 
marched  with  two  hundred  and  forty  men  and  two 
field  pieces  to  attack  five  hundred  Mexicans  who  had 
intrenched  themselves  in  a  village  called  Tamultay, 
three  miles  distant.  Approaching  within  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  of  the  place,  Commander  Bigelow  fell  into  an 
ambush,  but  steadily  returned  the  fire  and  put  the 
enemy  to  flight.  In  this  affair  the  Americans  had  two 
killed  and  five  wounded. 

This  was  the  last  action  of  the  war  in  which  the 
Gulf  squadron  was  directly  engaged.  A  detachment 
of  marines  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Watson  accom- 
panied the  army  under  General  Scott,  and  in  the  attack 


118  WAR  IN  THE   MEXICAN   GULF.  1847-1848. 

on  Chapultepec,  September  13th,  they  were  among  the 
volunteers  who  attacked  the  castle  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Major  Levi  Twiggs,  of  the  marines.  Captain 
Reynolds,  of  the  marines,  led  the  pioneer  storming 
party.  Major  Twiggs  was  killed  in  the  first  advance. 
In  the  stubborn  hand-to-hand  conflict,  in  which  the 
Mexicans  showed  more  than  usual  courage,  the  marines 
were  conspicuous  for  their  bravery.  They  were  also 
foremost  in  the  charge  along  the  causeway  leading  to 
the  Belen  gate,  and  when  the  Americans  entered  the 
capital,  September  14th,  Lieutenant  Watson  and  his 
marines  were  assigned  to  the  difficult  task  of  keeping 
the  criminal  classes  in  order.  In  these  battles  the  ma- 
rine corps  had  seven  men  killed  and  four  wounded. 
Peace  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  was  made 
February  2,  1848.  In  this  war  the  United  States  had 
about  one  hundred  thousand  men  under  arms,  fifteen 
thousand  of  whom  were  in  the  navy. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN. 

FROM  the  time  when  Marco  Polo  brought  news,  in 
1295,  of  a  large  island  inhabited  by  a  warlike  and 
highly  civilized  race  east  of  Corea,  Japan  had  been 
the  goal  toward  which  many  ambitious  explorers  di- 
rected their  energies.  The  vague  rumors  of  Zipangu 
or  Jipangu  haunted  Columbus  night  and  day  and 
touched  upon  the  grand  inspiration  of  his  life.  To 
his  thoughtful  mind  they  first  awakened  passing  fan- 
cies, then  serious  reflections,  but  only  to  be  laid  aside 
by  the  seeming  absurdity  of  his  conclusions.  But  still 
again  the  recurring  thoughts  clung  to  him  with  strange 
persistency.  Jipangu  !  To  the  east  of  Cathay  !  Could 
it  be  reached  by  sailing  west  ?  Japan  was  destined  to 
be  brought  within  the  pale  of  civilized  nations  not  by 
Columbus,  but  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States  navy, 
a  nation  whose  existence  was  a  result  of  Columbus' 
great  discovery.  In  1549  the  Jesuits,  led  by  Francis 
Xavier,  gained  a  footing  in  Japan,  and,  rapidly  ex- 
tending their  influence,  they  aspired  to  temporal  as 
well  as  spiritual  power,  so  that  in  1587  a  decree  of 
banishment  was  directed  against  them.  Other  edicts 
of  expulsion  were  issued,  but  it  was  not  until  1637, 
and  after  thousands  of  lives  had  been  sacrificed,  that 
they  and  their  doctrines  were  driven  from  the  empire. 
It  was  the  recollection  of  the  dangerous  interference  of 
the  priests  in  government  matters,  and  the  resulting 
civil  wars,  that  made  Japan  for  so  many  years  a  her- 
mit nation.  Many  attempts  were  made  by  Europeans 
to  trade  with  the  country,  but  they  were  always  met 

119 


120  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1797-1850. 

with  the  same  reply  :  "So  long  as  the  sun  shall  warm 
the  earth,  let  no  Christian  be  so  bold  as  to  come  to 
Japan  ;  and  let  all  know  that  the  King  of  Spain  him- 
self, or  the  Christian's  God,  or  the  great  God  of  all,  if 
he  violate  this  command,  shall  pay  for  it  with  his  head." 
As  early  as  1797  Robert  Shaw  showed  the  United 
States  flag  at  Nagasaki,  and  in  the  same  year  Captain 
Charles  Stewart,  while  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  stopped  at  Deshima,  where,  al- 
though he  was  supplied  with  water  and  provisions,  he 
was  not  allowed  to  land.  Various  other  attempts  were 
made  by  American  merchantmen  to  trade  with  the 
natives.  President  Jackson  in  1831  appointed  Ed- 
mund Roberts  as  agent  "to  open  trade  in  the  Indian 
Ocean,"  but  he  died  at  Macao  in  1836,  before  he  reached 
Japan.  In  1845  Congress  resolved  that  it  was  advis- 
able to  open  Japan  and  Corea,  and  in  the  following 
year  Captain  James  Biddle  anchored  at  Uraga  with 
the  90-gun  ship  Columbus  and  the  Vincennes ;  but  the 
authorities  refused  to  negotiate  with  him,  and  as  he 
was  instructed  "not  to  do  anything  to  excite  a  hostile 
feeling  or  a  distrust  of  the  United  States,"  he  sailed 
away  without  accomplishing  his  purpose.  In  1846 
Captain  David  Geisinger,  commanding  the  East  India 
squadron,  sent  Commander  James  Glynn  in  the  Preble 
to  Nagasaki  to  obtain  the  release  of  eighteen  American 
seamen  from  the  whaler  Lawrence,  who  were  confined 
by  the  Japanese.  Arriving  at  Nagasaki  April  17th, 
Commander  Glynn  found  that  the  Japanese  were  great- 
ly elated  at  what  they  considered  a  victory  over  Cap- 
tain Biddle's  squadron,  and  he  determined  to  tolerate 
no  trifling.  Breaking  through  the  cordon  of  guard- 
boats  that  surrounded  the  Preble  as  soon  as  she  dropped 
anchor  at  Nagasaki,  he  brought  his  broadside  to  bear 
on  the  city.  He  waited  two  days  without  getting  the 
prisoners,  and  then  threatened  to  open  fire,  and  after 
many  parleys  and  excuses  the  men  were  brought  aboard 
the  Preble  on  April  26th.  By  1850  the  American  flag 


1851-1853.  CAPTAIN  AULICK  RECALLED.  121 

had  become  familiar  to  the  Japanese,  and  in  a  twelve- 
month, according  to  the  native  records,  "eighty-six  of 
the  black  ships  were  counted  from  the  shore." 

The  increasing  commerce  with  China,  the  growth 
of  whale-fishing,  and  the  rapid  development  of  Cali- 
fornia made  it  necessary  to  open  Japan,  and  in  1851 
Congress  decided  to  send  an  expedition  to  that  coun- 
try. Captain  John  H.  Aulick  was  placed  in  command 
of  it,  and  was  ordered  to  carry  the  Brazilian  min- 
ister Macedo  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  the  SusqueJianna 
on  his  outward  passage.  Captain  Aulick  sailed  from 
Norfolk  June  8th,  landed  his  passenger,  doubled  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and,  after  attending  to  some  dip- 
lomatic business  with  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  pro- 
ceeded to  Hong-Kong  and  began  his  preparations  for 
the  Japan  expedition ;  but  while  at  this  place  he  re- 
ceived orders  relieving  him  of  the  command.  In  the 
mean  time  Captain  Franklin  Buchanan  assumed  charge 
of  the  expedition,  and  afterward  it  was  learned  that 
the  Government  was  displeased  at  some  remarks  that 
Captain  Aulick  was  alleged  to  have  made  in  reference 
to  the  Brazilian  minister,  declaring  that  he  was  being 
carried  to  Brazil  at  Aulick's  expense.  But  Macedo 
subsequently  exonerated  Captain  Aulick  of  all  blame. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1852,  Captain  Matthew  Cal- 
braith  Perry  was  appointed  commander  of  the  East 
India  squadron,  and  was  ordered  to  carry  out  the 
instructions  given  to  Captain  Aulick.  Commander 
Henry  A.  Adams,  Commander  Franklin  Buchanan, 
Commander  Sidney  Smith  Lee,  and  Lieutenant  Silas 
Bent,  who  was  in  the  Preble  at  Nagasaki,  were  to 
be  associated  with  him  in  his  negotiations.  Captain 
Perry  left  Norfolk  in  the  Mississippi,  November  24, 
1852,  and  arrived  at  Hong-Kong  April  6,  1853,  where 
he  found  the  sailing  vessels  Plymouth,  Saratoga  and 
Supply  and  the  steamer  SusqueTianna.  With  these 
he  appeared  off  Uraga,  early  in  July,  1853. 

As  the  American  squadron  approached  the  coast  of 


122  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1853. 

Japan,  early  on  the  morning  of  July  8th,  the  fog 
gradually  faded  before  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun  and 
revealed  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  place  in  all  its 
glory.  Bold  headlands  clothed  in  bright  verdure 
came  down  to  the  water's  edge,  sparkling  and  smiling 
as  the  sun  fell  upon  the  dew.  Fishing-boats  return- 
ing after  their  night's  work,  and  junks  with  their  huge 
square  sails  passing  up  the  harbor  to  the  metropolis, 
laden  with  the  produce  of  the  empire,  dotted  the  bay 
in  all  directions,  while  towering  over  all  was  the  per- 
fect cone  of  Fusiyama,  or  Peerless  Mountain,  with  her 
head  still  in  a  cap  of  snow.  As  the  American  ships 
drew  near  the  town  the  native  boatmen  scurried  away 
in  fear  and  amazement,  and  when  those  ahead  of  the 
squadron  paused  for  a  moment  to  gaze  at  the  great 
splashing  wheels  of  the  steamer,  they  thought  they 
were  at  a  safe  distance ;  but  when  they  observed  the 
huge  steamers  bearing  down  upon  them  without  a 
thread  of  canvas  set  they  were  panic-stricken,  and  sud- 
denly taking  to  their  sculls,  did  not  pause  again  until 
they  had  hauled  their  boats  up  high  and  dry  on  the 
shore. 

Captain  Perry  now  cleared  his  ships  for  action,  for, 
although  he  came  with  the  most  pacific  intentions,  he 
was  determined  to  be  ready  for  any  emergency.  Fur- 
thermore, he  was  convinced  that  a  bold  front,  backed 
by  a  good  showing  of  force,  would  impress  the  natives 
with  the  dignity  and  power  of  the  nation  he  repre- 
sented. Several  large  boats  bearing  official  flags  soon 
put  off  from  the  shore  for  the  American  ships,  evidently 
for  the  purpose  of  boarding  and  inquiring  their  busi- 
ness ;  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  them.  The  steam- 
ers, with  the  Plymouth  -and  the  Saratoga  in  tow, 
passed  majestically  by,  leaving  the  official  boats  far 
behind,  vainly  struggling  to  catch  up  with  them,  and 
no  doubt  much  mystified  and  perplexed  at  the  inex- 
plicable method  of  propulsion.  About  five  o'clock, 
when  the  squadron  anchored  off  Uraga,  the  reports  of 


1853.  ARRIVAL  IN  JAPANESE  WATERS.  123 

two  guns  were  heard,  and  an  instant  later  a  ball  of 
smoke  exploded  in  the  sky.  They  were  day  rockets, 
giving  notice  of  the  arrival  of  strangers.  A  great  num- 
ber of  boats  now  surrounded  the  American  ships,  so 
as  to  cut  off  communication  with  the  shore.  The  Jap- 
anese had  long  regarded  all  foreigners  as  mercenaries, 
who  would  undergo  any  indignity  for  the  sake  of  gain. 
The  Dutch  especially  had  submitted  to  the  most  de- 
grading humiliation  in  order  to  hold  their  trade  with 
that  country.  To  the  Japanese,  familiarity  meant  con- 
tempt— a  cringing  deference  was  met  with  insolence 
and  arrogance,  while  lack  of  ceremony  and  pomp  was 
taken  as  proof  of  weakness  and  fear.  Captain  Perry 
had  determined  on  a  different  policy,  and  when  the 
native  boats  attempted  to  make  fast  to  the  ships  their 
lines  were  promptly  cut,  and  when  some  endeavored 
to  climb  up  the  chains  they  were  ordered  back  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  Being  informed  through  the 
interpreter  that  only  their  highest  officials  would  be 
allowed  on  board,  the  natives  fell  back,  but  still  sur- 
rounded the  ships  and  kept  a  jealous  eye  on  them. 

A  boat  now  came  alongside  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
an  official  motioned  for  the  gangway  to  be  lowered. 
As  his  request  was  ignored,  he  showed  an  order  for  the 
ships  to  leave  the  harbor  immediately  ;  but  the  Ameri- 
cans replied  that  no  orders  would  be  received  except 
from  the  officials  of  the  highest  rank.  One  of  the  na- 
tives, who  spoke  Dutch,  now  asked  several  questions, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  squadron  was  ex- 
pected— they  undoubtedly  having  learned  of  the  in- 
tended visit  through  the  Dutch  of  Nagasaki.  It  was 
then  suggested  that  the  Americans  appoint  some  officer 
corresponding  to  the  rank  of  the  vice-governor  of 
Uraga,  and  meet  him  for  a  conference.  After  some 
intentional  delay  this  was  agreed  to,  and  Lieutenant 
John  Contee  was  delegated  to  receive  the  official.  The 
gangway  was  lowered,  and  the  vice-governor  and  one 
aid  were  allowed  to  come  on  board.  Captain  Perry, 


124:  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1853. 

in  keeping  with  his  policy  of  exclusiveness,  remained 
in  his  cabin,  communicating  with  the  vice-governor 
through  Lieutenant  Contee.  The  natives  were  now  in- 
formed of  the  nature  of  the  visit,  and,  in  response  to 
the  vice-governor's  reiterated  requests  that  the  squad- 
ron go  to  Nagasaki,  the  Americans  steadily  insisted  on 
having  negotiations  conducted  near  the  capital  of  the 
empire.  The  vice-governor  furthermore  wras  informed 
that  the  Americans  would  not  tolerate  any  indignity, 
and  that  they  considered  the  surrounding  of  their  ves- 
sels with  boats  an  insult,  and  if  they  were  not  imme- 
diately ordered  off  they  would  be  fired  upon.  When 
this  was  interpreted  to  the  vice-governor  he  left  his 
seat,  and,  going  to  the  gangway,  motioned  the  boats 
away.  This  had  the  effect  of  dispersing  them ;  but 
several  remained  at  a  little  distance,  keeping  a  sharp 
lookout.  This  was  the  first  point  gained  in  the  mission. 
The  vice-governor  soon  afterward  left  the  ship,  saying 
that  he  had  no  authority  to  promise  anything,  but  that 
an  official  of  high  rank  would  visit  it  the  next  morning. 
In  the  still  watches  of  the  summer  night  many  of 
the  officers  and  men  kept  the  deck,  curious  to  observe 
the  strange  land  in  which  they  had  arrived  and  to  dis- 
cuss the  doings  of  the  day.  The  dark  waters  were 
filled  with  globelike  jelly  fish.  Innumerable  native 
craft,  with  their  fantastically  decorated  paper  lanterns 
at  bow  and  stern,  glided  to  and  fro  over  the  peaceful 
waters  of  the  bay,  centering  their  long  scintillating 
rays  of  light  on  the  ships,  as  if  jealously  watching 
every  movement.  Once  in  a  while  some  coasting-junk, 
blanched  and  ghostly  with  ocean  brine,  hurried  into 
port,  as  if  still  fearing  the  typhoon  dragons,  and  moved 
swiftly  up  the  bay  ;  and  when  the  hardy  mariners 
passed  the  American  squadron  with  a  wondering  stare 
they  quickly  vanished  in  the  direction  of  the  metrop- 
olis. Beacon  fires  lighted  the  harbor  on  all  sides,  while 
bodies  of  troops  marching  and  countermarching  gave 
token  of  the  excitement  on  shore.  Rockets  were  sent 


1853.  SURPRISE  OF  THE  NATIVES.  125 

up  at  frequent  intervals,  and  fire-bells  were  rung.  The 
town  itself  was  thoroughly  aroused,  people  hurrying 
from  house  to  house,  or  burning  incense  before  their 
gods,  supplicating  with  deep  intonation  that  the  "smok- 
ing ships,"  which  had  so  nearly  ground  some  of  their 
fishing-boats  to  pieces,  might  be  removed.  Other  na- 
tives were  assembling  on  the  beach  and  gazing  at  the 
great  vessels  in  profound  amazement.  The  busy  hum 
of  wakefulness,  together  with  the  beating  of  drums 
and  the  deep,  waving  vibrations  of  the  great  temple 
bells,  filling  the  air  with  melancholy  music,  caused  the 
Americans  to  feel  that  they  wTere  indeed  in  a  strange 
land  and  among  strange  people. 

At  sunrise  a  boat  put  off  from  the  shore  and  took  a 
convenient  station  near  the  visiting  squadron,  and  on 
leveling  glasses  at  it,  the  Americans  saw  that  it  con- 
tained artists  sketching  the  ships.  About  seven  o'clock 
two  large  boats,  one  of  them  flying  a  three-striped  flag, 
indicating  an  official  of  the  third  rank,1  ran  alongside, 
and  Yezaimen,  Governor  of  Uraga,  came  aboard  with 
his  suite.  Captain  Perry  refused  to  show  himself,  but 
appointed  Commanders  Buchanan  and  Adams  and 
Lieutenant  Contee  to  receive  any  communications. 
The  governor,  arrayed  in  a  "rich  silk  robe  of  an  em- 
broidered pattern  resembling  the  feathers  of  a  peacock, 
with  borders  of  gold  and  silver,"  emphasized  the  state- 
ment of  his  subordinate — namely,  that  the  Americans 
must  go  to  Nagasaki.  But  the  Americans  insisted  on 
delivering  the  letter  near  the  capital,  and  the  governor 
then  said  that  the  answer  would  be  sent  to  Nagasaki. 
It  was  now  observed  that  the  governor  used  a  different 
title  for  the  President  and  the  Emperor,  upon  which 
the  American  officers  affected  much  displeasure,  and 
requested  that  the  same  title  be  applied  to  "both.  This 
was  conceded,  and  perceptibly  raised  the  Americans  in 
the  governor's  estimation.  The  latter  then  said  that  he 

1  Mito  Yashiki :  A  Tale  of  Old  Japan,  p.  180. 


126  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN".  1853. 

would  send  an  express  to  Tokio  for  further  instruction, 
and  on  being  asked  how  long  that  would  take,  he  re- 
plied, "Four  days."  As  a  few  hours' steaming  would 
have  brought  the  ships  within  sight  of  the  capital,  the 
American  officers  declared  that  they  would  wait  only 
three  days,  and  if  an  answer  was  not  received  within 
that  time  they  would  move  the  squadron  nearer  to  the 
city,  so  as  to  enable  the  Japanese  to  get  their  reply  in 
less  time.  This  evidently  was  what  the  governor 
most  feared,  and  in  much  trepidation  he  consented  to 
have  the  reply  in  three  days. 

While  this  conference  was  being  held,  several  well- 
armed  boats  had  been  sent  out  from  the  squadron  to 
take  soundings.  Observing  them,  the  governor  in- 
quired what  their  business  was,  and  on  being  told,  he 
said  that  it  was  against  the  laws  and  that  they  must 
return.  The  Americans  replied  that  the  American  laws 
compelled  them  to  take  soundings  and  make  hydro- 
graphic  surveys  in  all  strange  waters,  and  that  they 
were  bound  to  obey  American  laws  as  well  as  Japanese. 
As  these  boats  were  approaching  some  earthworks 
mounting  a  few  light  guns,  native  soldiers  armed  with 
spears,  lances,  swords  and  matchlocks  came  down  to 
the  water's  edge  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  for- 
eigners that  they  were  on  the  alert  and  fully  prepared 
to  resist  any  attempt  to  land.  They  made  the  best 
possible  showing  of  their  matchlocks,  evidently  with 
the  idea  of  impressing  the  Americans  with  the  fact  that 
the  Japanese  were  not  so  far  behind  the  times  in  the 
matter  of  firearms  as  might  have  been  thought.  One 
of  the  boats  pulled  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  sol- 
diers, when  a  lieutenant,  with  the  promptness  becom- 
ing a  man-of-war's  man,  whipped  out  his  spyglass  with 
a  resounding  crack  and  leveled  it  at  a  dignified  warrior 
who  seemed  to  be  in  command.  The  movement,  harm- 
less in  itself,  had  a  most  unexpected  effect,  for  the 
Japanese  supposed  some  deadly  weapon  was  being 
aimed  at  them,  and  the  glass  revealed  to  the  lieuten- 


1853.  DIPLOMATIC  DELAYS.  127 

ant's  eye  a  confused  mass  of  fluttering  garments,  anti- 
quated armor,  and  flipflapping  sandals,  for  the  digni- 
fied warriors  had  dropped  the  austerity  of  their  bear- 
ing, and,  gathering  up  their  skirts,  got  behind  the 
earthworks  with  more  haste  than  dignity. 

On  the  following  day  (Sunday)  a  boat  came  along- 
side with  some  high  officials  ;  but  permission  to  come 
aboard  was  refused,  as  the  Americans  held  the  day 
sacred.  On  this  day  Captain  Perry  conducted  the 
services  in  person,  and  the  familiar  tunes  of  Old 
Hundred  and  "Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne,  ye 
nations,  bow  with  sacred  joy "  were  probably  for  the 
first  time  wafted  across  the  waters  of  the  bay.  On 
Monday  surveying  parties  were  sent  farther  up  the  bay^ 
accompanied  by  the  Mississippi,  and  this  so  alarmed 
the  governor  that  he  immediately  came  aboard  the 
flagship  to  inquire  the  cause  of  it.  He  was  informed 
that  the  American  commander  intended  to  survey  the 
entire  bay,  as  the  squadron  expected  to  return  in  the 
following  spring  for  an  answer. 

On  Tuesday,  the  day  appointed  for  receiving  a  re- 
ply from  Tokio,  three  large  boats  ran  alongside  the 
Susquehanna,  and  the  governor  and  his  interpreter 
came  aboard.  After  a  long  discussion  it  was  finally 
agreed  that  the  letter  from  the  President  would  be  re- 
ceived in  a  building  on  the  beach  near  Uraga,  by  an 
official  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  empire,  especially  ap- 
pointed by  the  Emperor.  Then  again  came  up  the  ever- 
recurring  question  of  Nagasaki,  the  governor  saying 
that,  although  by  special  act  of  courtesy  on  the  part 
of  the  Emperor  the  letter  would  be  received  at  Uraga, 
yet  the  answer  must  be  given  at  Nagasaki.  To  this 
Captain  Perry  sent  the  following  message :  "  The  com- 
mander in  chief  will  not  go  to  Nagasaki,  and  will  receive 
no  communication  through  the  Dutch  or  Chinese.  He 
has  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
deliver  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan  or  his  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  he  will  deliver  the  original  to  none 


128  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1853. 

other.  If  this  friendly  letter  of  the  President  to  the 
Emperor  is  not  received  and  duly  replied  to,  he  will 
consider  his  country  insulted  and  will  not  hold  him- 
self accountable  for  the  consequences.  He  expects  a 
reply  of  some  sort  in  a  few  days,  and  he  will  receive 
such  reply  nowhere  but  in  this  neighborhood." 

No  one  was  more  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  com- 
pelling by  force  of  arms  this  spirited  people  to  come 
within  the  community  of  nations  than  Captain  Perry 
himself.  Such  a  measure  would  not  only  have  resulted 
disastrously,  but  would  more  than  ever  confirm  the 
Japanese  in  their  seclusion.  A  resort  to  any  other 
than  pacific  measures  was  furthest  from  Captain  Perry's 
intentions,  yet  he  was  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of 
a  strong  presence  with  which  to  maintain  the  dignity 
of  his  country  and  impress  the  Japanese  with  the  honor 
and  value  of  the  treaty  he  sought.  His  prompt  resent- 
ment of  the  slightest  indignity  or  lack  of  ceremony  was 
admirably  calculated  to  arouse  the  respect  of  this  pe- 
culiar people.  The  governor  left  the  ship,  saying  that 
he  would  shortly  return.  This  probably  was  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  higher  officials,  who  undoubt- 
edly were  concealed  in  Uraga  to  superintend  the  pro- 
ceedings. In  the  afternoon  the  governor  again  came 
aboard,  and  after  a  long  discussion  it  was  agreed  that 
Thursday  morning,  July  14th,  should  be  set  aside  for 
the  ceremony  of  delivering  the  letter.  There  was  to 
be  no  discussion  of  the  subject,  but  merely  an  inter- 
change of  compliments,  after  which  the  Americans  were 
to  sail  away  and  return  in  the  following  spring  for  an 
answer. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  the  steamers 
weighed  anchor  and  stood  around  a  point  of  land 
where  the  ceremony  was  to  be  held,  and  anchored  so 
as  to  command  the  landing-place.  When  this  was 
done,  the  governor  and  his  interpreters,  richly  dressed 
in  silk  and  gold,  came  aboard  and  were  escorted  to 
their  place  on  the  quarter  deck,  and  a  signal  now  called 


1853.  PERRY'S  SPLENDID   DIPLOMACY.  129 

fifteen  cutters  and  launches  from  the  different  ships 
around  the  Susquehanna.  Commander  Buchanan  led 
the  boats  in  single  file,  each  of  which  was  escorted  on 
either  side  by  native  craft.  As  the  procession  of  boats 
drew  out  to  its  full  length  toward  the  land,  the  bright 
flags,  gorgeous  banners,  and  lacquered  hats,  glistening 
in  the  sunlight,  presented  a  beautiful  and  imposing 
spectacle.  When  the  boats  were  halfway  to  the  land, 
Captain  Perry,  in  full-dress  uniform,  stepped  to  the 
gangway,  and,  with  a  salute  of  thirteen  guns,  entered 
his  barge  and  was  rowed  to  the  landing-place.  As  his 
boat  reached  the  shore  the  American  officers  and  men 
drew  up  in  a  double  line  to  receive  him.  The  land 
procession  was  then  formed — one  hundred  marines, 
whose  figures  were  in  striking  contrast  to  the  diminu- 
tive Japanese,  leading  the  way,  followed  by  one  hun- 
dred seamen.  Captain  Perry,  guarded  on  each  side 
by  a  gigantic  negro  and  preceded  by  two  boys  car- 
rying the  President's  letter,  came  next.  This  letter 
and  accompanying  documents  "were  in  folio  size,  and 
were  beautifully  written  on  vellum,  and  not  folded, 
but  bound  in  blue  silk  velvet.  Each  seal,  attached  by 
cords  of  interwoven  gold  and  silk,  with  pendant  gold 
tassels,  was  incased  in  a  circular  box  six  inches  in 
diameter  and  three  in  depth,  wrought  of  pure  gold. 
Each  of  the  documents,  together  with  its  seal,  was 
placed  in  a  box  of  rosewood  about  a  foot  long,  with 
lock,  hinges,  and  mounting  all  of  gold." l 

Arriving  at  the  reception-hall,  Captain  Perry  and 
his  suite  entered  a  tent  about  forty  feet  square,  where 
were  seated  two  princes,  who  had  been  delegated  to 
receive  the  letter.  As  the  Americans  entered,  the 
princes  courteously  bowed  and  motioned  their  guests 
to  a  seat  on  the  right.  Further  than  this,  however, 
they  showed  no  curiosity  or  interest,  but  preserved  a 
grave  and  stolid  composure.  For  some  minutes  after 

1  Official  report  of  Captain  Perry. 
54 


130 


THE  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1853. 


the  company  had  been  seated  a  profound  silence  pre- 
vailed. Finally,  the  Governor  of  Uraga,  who  acted  as 
master  of  ceremonies,  said  that  the  princes  were  ready 
to  receive  the  letter,  upon  which  the  two  boys,  who 
were  at  the  lower  end  of  the  hall,  marched  up  with  the 
rosewood  boxes,  closely  followed  by  the  negroes,  de- 
posited them  in  a  scarlet  box  prepared  by  the  Japanese, 
and  retired  in  perfect  silence.  A  paper  from  the  princes 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  letter  was  then  given. 
It  read  as  follows  :  "The  letter  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America  and  copy  are  hereby 
received  and  delivered  to  the  Emperor.  Many  times  it 
has  been  said  that  business  relating  to  foreign  countries 
can  not  be  transacted  here  in  Uraga,  but  at  Nagasaki. 
Now  it  has  been  observed  that  the  admiral,  in  his  qual- 
ity of  ambassador  of  the  President,  would  be  insulted 
by  it.  The  justice  of  this  has  been  acknowledged,  con- 
sequently the  above-mentioned  letter  is  hereby  received 
in  opposition  to  Japanese  law.  Because  the  place  is 
not  designed  to  treat  of  anything  from  foreigners,  so 
neither  can  conference  or  entertainment  take  place. 
The  letter  being  received,  you  will  leave." 

Again  a  deep  silence  pervaded  the  hall.  Captain 
Perry  then  said  that  within  a  few  days  he  would  leave 
for  China,  and  return  in  April  or  May  for  an  answer. 
When  asked  if  he  would  come  with  all  the  four  ships, 
he  replied,  "With  many  more."  The  governor  then 
informed  the  Americans  that  there  was  nothing  more 
to  be  done,  and,  bowing  to  the  right  and  left,  he  passed 
out  of  the  hall.  Upon  this  Captain  Perry  and  his  suite 
rose  and  retired  also,  the-  two  princes  standing  until 
they  had  left  the  apartments.  The  interview  had  not 
lasted  thirty  minutes,  during  which  the  severest  for- 
mality had  been  observed.  The  procession  again  formed 
and  the  Americans  returned  to  their  ships. 

Captain  Perry  determined  to  explore  the  bay  in  the 
direction  of  the  capital  before  he  sailed  away,  for  the 
purpose  of  marking  out  the  channel  and  impressing 


1853-1854.  MAKING  THE   TREATY.  131 

the  natives  with  their  inability  to  obstruct  his  move- 
ments. Accordingly,  when  the  governor,  who  had  ac- 
companied the  Americans  aboard  the  Susquehanna, 
learned  where  the  squadron  was  going  to  sail,  he  pro- 
tested;  but,  unmindful  of  this,  the  American  boats 
continued  their  work  until  the  17th,  and,  having  come 
within  sight  of  Shinagawa,  a  suburb  of  Tokio,  the 
squadron  sailed  for  China. 

While  visiting  Macao,  in  November,  waiting  for  the 
time  for  his  return  to  Tokio,  Captain  Perry  learned 
that  the  French  admiral  had  left  port  suddenly  with 
sealed  orders,  and  nearly  at  the  same  time  the  Russian 
Admiral  Pontiatine  returned  from  Nagasaki  with  four 
vessels.  Fearing  that  the  French  and  Russians  were 
contemplating  a  visit  to  Tokio,  Captain  Perry  decided 
on  a  midwinter  voyage  to  Japan  in  order  to  forestall 
them,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  navigation  of  the 
China  Sea  at  that  time  was  considered  exceedingly 
hazardous.  Accordingly,  on  the  12th  of  February, 
1854,  he  appeared  in  the  bay  of  Tokio  with  the  steam- 
ers Susquehanna,  Mississippi  and  Poiohatan,  and 
the  sailing  vessels  Macedonian,  Southampton,  Lexing- 
ton, Vandalia,  Plymouth  and  Saratoga.  Five  days 
were  spent  in  a  courteous  altercation  with  the  Jap- 
anese officials  as  to  where  the  squadron  should  anchor, 
the  natives  insisting  that  it  should  remain  near  Uraga, 
while  Captain  Perry  was  equally  firm  in  having  his 
ships  go  farther  up  the  bay,  declaring  the  anchorage 
at  Uraga  to  be  unsafe.  Finally  Yokohama  was  decided 
upon,  and  a  treaty  house  was  built  at  the  present  Eng- 
lish Hatoba,  where  the  Union  Church  is  situated. 

On  the  8th  of  March  the  Americans  landed  with 
pomp  and  ceremony  and  began  the  negotiations.  No 
little  risk  was  involved  in  landing,  for,  as  was  afterward 
learned,  there  were  several  fanatics  among  the  Japanese 
guards  who  had  sworn  to  kill  Perry.  The  negotiations 
extended  over  several  days.  On  the  first  day  Captain 
Perry  asked  why  the  grounds  surrounding  the  treaty 


132  THE   EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN.  1854-1860. 

house  had  been  fenced  in  with  large  mats ;  and  being 
told  that  it  was  to  prevent  the  Americans  from  seeing 
the  country,  he  requested  that  they  be  taken  down,  as 
he  considered  it  an  indignity  ;  and  his  request  was 
complied  with.  Finally,  on  the  31st  of  March,  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  agreed  upon,  and  Simoda  and 
Hakodate  were  opened  to  the  Americans  for  commerce, 
under  certain  restrictions.  On  the  29th  of  July,  1858, 
Townsend  Harris,  American  consul  general,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Commander  Josiah  Tattnall,  signed  the  main 
treaty  between  the  two  countries,  and  on  the  13th  of 
February,  1860,  a  Japanese  embassy  of  seventy-one 
persons  left  Yokohama  in  the  Powhatan  for  Washing- 
ton. And  thus  one  of  the  greatest  diplomatic  triumphs 
of  the  age  was  recorded.  Washington  Irving  wrote  to 
Perry  :  "You  have  gained  for  yourself  a  lasting  name, 
and  have  won  it  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood  or 
inflicting  misery  on  a  human  being.  What  naval  com- 
mander ever  won  laurels  at  such  a  rate  ? "  A  residence 
of  seven  years  in  Japan  has  enabled  the  author  to  ap- 
preciate the  great  firmness,  the  rare  diplomacy  and 
indomitable  perseverance  that  were  shown  by  Captain 
Perry  in  bringing  to  a  successful  end  his  negotiations 
with  this  spirited  and  highly  intelligent  people. 

On  July  11,  1854,  Perry  concluded  a  commercial 
treaty  with  the  king  of  the  Lew  Chew  Islands,  a  small 
group  south  of  Japan.  By  the  terms  of  this  compact 
the  natives  were  to  furnish  pilots  to  American  vessels 
approaching  their  harbors,  and  in  case  of  shipwreck 
our  people  were  to  be  provided  for.  The  most  remark- 
able clause  in  this  treaty,  one  which  reveals  Perry's 
splendid  tact  and  diplomacy,  was  that  by  which  the 
natives  agreed  to  set  apart  and  hold  sacred  a  grave- 
yard for  American  citizens. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SCIENTIFIC   AND   EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS. 

NOT  only  has  the  navy  been  of  incalculable  value  in 
the  wars  of  the  United  States,  but  in  scientific  and  ex- 
ploring expeditions  also  it  has  been  of  great  service. 
On  the  18th  of  May,  1836,  Congress  authorized  an  ex- 
pedition for  the  purpose  of  "exploring  and  survey- 
ing the  southern  ocean,  as  well  to  determine  the  exist- 
ence of  all  doubtful  islands  and  shoals  as  to  discover 
and  accurately  fix  the  position  of  those  which  lie  in  or 
near  the  track  of  our  vessels  in  that  quarter  and  may 
have  escaped  the  observation  of  scientific  navigators." 
Lieutenant  Charles  Wilkes  was  placed  in  command  of 
the  expedition,  and  on  the  19th  of  August,  1838,  he 
sailed  from  Hampton  Roads  with  the  18-gun  sloop  of 
war  Vincennes,  flagship  ;  the  18-gun  sloop  of  war  Pea- 
cock, Lieutenant  William  L.  Hudson  ;  the  12-gun  brig 
of  war  Porpoise,  Lieutenant  Cadwalader  Ringgold  ; 
the  storeship  llelief,  Lieutenant  Andrew  K.  Long  ;  the 
tender  Sea  Gull,  Passed-Midshipman  J.  W.  E.  Reid  ; 
and  the  tender  Flying  Fisli,  Passed-Midshipman  Sam- 
uel R.  Knox.  Although  the  great  object  of  this  expe- 
dition was  to  enlarge  the  circle  of  commerce,  it  was 
also  intended  to  acquire  scientific  knowledge,  and  for 
this  purpose  the  following  men  accompanied  it :  Hora- 
tio Hale,  philologist ;  Charles  Pickering  and  Titian 
Ramsey  Peale,  naturalists ;  Mr.  Couthouy,  concholo- 
gist  ;  James  Dwight  Dana,  mineralogist ;  Mr.  Rich, 
botanist ;  Mr.  Drayton  and  Mr.  Agate,  draughtsmen  ; 
and  J.  D.  Brackenridge,  horticulturist. 

In  crossing  the  Atlantic  the  vessels  sailed  about  four 

133. 


134    SCIENTIFIC  AND  EXPLORING   EXPEDITIONS.     1838-1839. 

miles  apart,  to  take  soundings  and  ascertain  the  tem- 
perature in  the  various  currents.  After  remaining  a 
week  at  Madeira  the  ships  headed  southward,  touched 
at  the  Cape  Verd  Islands,  and  arrived  at  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro on  the  23d  of  November.  They  left  that  port 
on  the  6th  of  January,  1839,  and  made  Orange  Harbor, 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  their  base  of  operations  for  explora- 
tions in  the  Antartic  Ocean.  On  the  25th  of  February, 
Lieutenant  Wilkes,  in  the  Porpoise,  accompanied  by 
the  Sea  Gull,  made  sail  for  the  south  pole.  At  day- 
light, March  1st,  they  fell  in  with  ice  islands  and  flur- 
ries of  snow,  and  about  noon  an  island  was  discov- 
ered, but  owing  to  the  surf  it  was  impossible  to  land. 
Toward  night  another  volcanic  island  was  sighted,  and 
at  daylight,  March  2d,  O'Brien  and  Ashland  Islands 
were  discovered.  On  the  3d  of  March  the  vessels 
reached  Palmersland.  Lieutenant  Wilkes  wrote :  ult 
was  a  day  of  great  excitement  to  all,  for  we  had  ice  of 
all  kinds  to  encounter,  from  the  iceberg  of  huge  quad- 
rangular shape,  with  its  stratified  appearance,  to  the 
sunken  and  deceptive  masses  that  were  difficult  to  per- 
ceive before  they  were  under  the  bow.  I  have  rarely 
seen  a  finer  sight.  The  sea  was  literally  studded  with 
these  beautiful  masses,  some  of  pure  white,  others 
showing  all  the  shades  of  the  opal,  others  emerald 
green,  and  occasionally,  here  and  there,  some  of  a  deep 
black.  Our  situation  was  critical,  but  the  weather 
favored  us  for  a  few  hours.  On  clearing  these  dangers 
we  kept  off  to  the  south  and  west  under  all  sail,  and  at 
9  P.  M.  we  counted  eight  large  ice  islands.  Afterward 
the  weather  became  so  thick  with  mist  and  fog  as  to 
render  it  necessary  to  lay  to  till  daylight,  before  which 
time  we  had  a  heavy  snowstorm.  A  strong  gale  now 
set  in  from  the  southwest ;  the  deck  of  the  brig  was 
covered  with  ice  and  snow  and  the  weather  became 
exceedingly  damp  and  cold.  The  men  were  suffering 
not  only  from  want  of  sufficient  room  but  from  the 
inadequacy  of  the  clothing." 


1839.  IN  ANTARCTIC  SEAS. 


135 


By  the  5th  of  March  the  gale  had  greatly  increased 
and  the  vessels  were  in  danger  of  being  hurled  against 
the  icebergs.  This,  together  with  the  appearance  of 
incipient  scurvy,  resulting  from  constant  exposure,  in- 
duced Lieutenant  Wilkes  to  head  northward  and  re- 
turn to  Orange  Harbor. 

On  the  same  day  the  Porpoise  and  the  Sea  Gull  set 
out  on  their  antarctic  cruise  (February  25th),  the  Pea- 
cock and  the  Flying  Fish  also  got  under  way,  but  on 
the  27th  they  encountered  a  heavy  gale  and  became 
separated.  After  waiting  twelve  hours  in  vain  for  her 
consort,  the  Peacock  continued  her  cruise  to  the  south 
and  experienced  moderate  weather  until  the  4th  of 
March,  when  she  encountered  another  severe  gale.  The 
weather  continued  boisterous,  with  frequent  squalls  of 
snow  and  rain,  but  on  the  llth  it  again  cleared  off. 
The  Peacock  was  now  continually  beset  with  icebergs, 
fogs,  and  flurries  of  snow,  so  that  navigation  became 
exceedingly  difficult.  "  The  ship  was  completely  coat- 
ed with  ice,  even  to  the  gun  deck.  Every  spray  thrown 
over  her  froze,  and  her  bows  and  decks  were  fairly 
packed  with  ice."  On  the  25th  of  March  the  Peacock 
fell  in  with  the  Flying  Fish,  which  vessel  had  not 
been  heard  from  since  the  gale  of  February  27th.  Lieu- 
tenant Walker  reported  that  he  had  penetrated  south 
as  far  as  70°.  As  both  vessels  were  now  in  danger  of 
being  frozen  in,  and  as  they  were  not  provisioned  for  a 
long  imprisonment,  Lieutenant  Hudson  called  a  coun- 
cil of  his  officers,  and  it  was  determined  to  head  north- 
ward, and  accordingly  the  vessels  slowly  made  their 
way  out  of  the  antarctic  circle.  At  midnight,  March 
29th,  the  people  of  the  PeacocTc  were  startled  by  the 
smell  of  smoke,  which  issued  from  the  main  hold.  All 
hands  were  instantly  called  to  quarters,  and  on  open- 
ing the  main  hatch  dense  volumes  of  smoke  rolled  out. 
With  much  difficulty  the  flames  were  extinguished. 
On  the  1st  of  April,  Lieutenant  Hudson  dispatched  the 
Flying  Fish,  with  his  report,  to  Orange  Harbor,  while 


136    SCIENTIFIC   AND  EXPLORING   EXPEDITIONS.     1839-1840. 

he  continued  his  course  to  Valparaiso,  where  he  ar- 
rived on  the  21st  of  April  and  found  the  storeship 
Relief.  About  the  middle  of  May  the  Vincennes,  the 
Porpoise  and  the  Flying  Fish  also  arrived  at  that 
port.  The  Sea  Gull  and  the  Flying  Fish  had  sailed 
from  Orange  Harbor  together,  but  had  become  sepa- 
rated in  a  gale,  and  the  former  was  never  heard 
from  again.  Soon  afterward  the  Relief  was  sent  to  the 
United  States,  as  she  was  a  dull  sailer  and  greatly  im- 
peded the  movements  of  the  other  vessels. 

The  remainder  of  the  squadron  crossed  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  examining  many  islands,  and  arrived  at  Syd- 
ney, New  South  Wales,  on  the  29th  of  November. 
Here  it  was  determined  to  attempt  another  antarctic 
cruise,  and  the  Vincennes,  the  Peacock,  the  Porpoise 
and  the  Flying  Fish,  on  the  26th  of  December,  stood 
out  of  the  bay  and  headed  for  the  south.  On  the  2d 
of  January,  while  in  a  dense  fog,  the  Flying  Fish  be- 
came separated  from  the  squadron  and  did  not  again 
join  it,  and  on  the  following  day  the  Peacock  also 
parted  company.  In  hopes  of  falling  in  with  these 
vessels,  Lieutenant  Wilkes  made  for  Macquarie  Island, 
the  first  rendezvous,  and  arrived  in  its  vicinity  on  the 
7th.  On  the  9th  he  made  the  second  rendezvous,  but 
still  failed  to  meet  the  Flying  Fish.  The  early  sepa- 
ration of  this  tender  had  a  most  unfortunate  effect  on 
the  officers  and  men  of  the  entire  squadron  ;  coming  so 
soon  after  the  loss  of  the  Sea  Gull,  it  caused  a  depres- 
sion of  spirits  and  gloomy  forebodings  that  rendered 
the  antarctic  cruise  doubly  hazardous.  "  Men-o'-war's 
men,"  wrote  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  "are  prone  to  prog- 
nosticate evil,  and  on  this  occasion  they  were  not  want- 
ing in  various  surmises.  Woeful  accounts  were  soon 
afloat  of  the  distress  the  schooner  was  in  when  last 
seen— and  this  in  quite  a  moderate  sea." 

On  the  10th  of  January  the  squadron  met  an  ice- 
berg about  a  mile  long  and  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  high.  The  weather  now  became  misty,  with  occa- 


1840.  SEAS  OF  ICE.  137 

sional  flurries  of  snow,  while  icebergs  were  so  numer- 
ous as  to  necessitate  changing  the  course  several  times. 
About  nine  o'clock  on  January  llth  a  low.  point  of 
ice  was  discovered,  and  on  rounding  it  the  explorers 
found  themselves  in  a  large  bay.  Moving  swiftly 
ahead  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  they  reached  its  limit, 
where  their  course  was  abruptly  checked  by  a  compact 
barrier  of  ice.  The  vessels  were  then  hove  to  until, 
daylight.  It  was  a  perfect  night ;  no  sound  broke  the 
great  silence  except  the  ghostly  rustling  of  the  ice- 
fields. The  morning  of  the  12th  dawned  with  a  dense 
fog,  during  which  the  Porpoise  was  lost  sight  of,  and 
the  entire  day  was  spent  in  beating  out  of  the  bay,  a 
heavy  fog  frequently  rendering  it  impossible  to  see 
more  than  a  ship's  length  ahead. 

The  Peacock,  since  her  separation  from  the  squad- 
ron (January  3d),  had  made  for  Macquarie  Island,  and 
succeeded  in  landing  two  men  on  it.  The  place  was 
found  to  be  uninhabited,  except  by  vast  flocks  of  pen- 
guins, which  on  the  approach  of  the  explorers  sav- 
agely flew  at  them,  snapping  at  their  clothing,  heads 
and  limbs  in  a  most  unpleasant  manner.  The  Peacock 
resumed  her  course  southward,  and  on  the  15th  of 
January  fell  in  with  the  Vincennes  and  the  Porpoise 
at  the  above-mentioned  barrier. 

The  three  vessels  now  cruised  westward  along  the 
outskirts  of  the  ice  barrier,  hoping  to  find  some  open- 
ing through  which  they  could  penetrate  farther  south. 
On  the  16th  of  January  land  was  seen  over  a  long 
stretch  of  ice-fields  from  the  masthead  of  the  Peacock, 
and  during  the  following  night  the  Vincennes,  by 
making  short  tacks,  endeavored  to  gain  as  much  south- 
ing as  possible.  "Previously  to  its  becoming  broad 
daylight,"  wrote  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  "the fog  rendered 
everything  obscure,  even  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
ship.  I  knew  that  we  were  in  close  proximity  to  ice- 
bergs and  field  ice,  but  from  the  report  of  the  lookout 
at  sunset  I  believed  that  there  was  an  opening  or  large 


138         SCIENTIFIC  AND  EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS.         1840. 

bay  leading  to  the  south.  The  ship  had  rapid  way  on 
her  and  was  much  tossed  about,  when  in  an  instant  all 
was  perfectly  still  and  quiet.  The  transition  was  so 
sudden  that  many  were  awakened  by  it  from  a  sound 
sleep,  and  all  well  knew,  from  the  short  experience  we 
had  had,  that  the  cessation  of  the  sound  and  motion 
usual  at  sea  was  a  proof  that  we  had  run  within  a  line 
of  ice — an  occurrence  from  which  the  feeling  of  great 
danger  is  inseparable.  The  watch  was  immediately 
called  by  the  officer  of  the  deck.  Many  of  those  below 
were  seen  hurrying  up  the  hatches,  and  those  on  deck 
were  straining  their  eyes  to  discover  the  barriers  in 
time  to  avoid  accident.  The  ship  still  moving  rapidly 
along,  some  faint  hopes  remained  that  the  bay  might 
prove  a  deep  one  and  enable  me  to  satisfy  my  sanguine 
hopes  and  belief  relative  to  the  land.  The  feeling  is 
awful  and  the  uncertainty  most  trying,  thus  to  enter 
within  the  icy  barriers  blindfolded,  as  it  were,  by  an 
impenetrable  fog,  and  the  thought  constantly  recurring 
that  both  ship  and  crew  are  in  imminent  danger.  On 
we  kept,  until  it  was  reported  to  me  by  attentive  listen- 
ers that  they  heard  the  low  and  distinct  rustling  of  ice. 
Suddenly  a  dozen  voices  proclaimed  the  barriers  to  be 
in  sight,  just  ahead.  The  ship,  which  a  moment  before 
seemed  as  if  unpeopled,  from  the  stillness  of  all  on 
board,  was  instantly  alive  with  the  bustle  of  performing 
the  evolution  necessary  to  bring  her  to  the  wind,  which 
was  unfavorable  to  a  return  on  the  same  tack.  After 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  on  her  new  tack  ice  was  again 
made  ahead,  and  the  full  danger  of  our  situation  was 
realized.  The  ship  was  suddenly  embayed,  and  the 
extent  of  sea  room  to  which  we  were  limited  was  ren- 
dered invisible  by  the  dark  and  murky  weather ;  yet, 
that  we  were  closely  circumscribed  was  evident  from 
having  made  ice  so  soon  on  either  tack,  and  from  the 
audible  rustling  around  us."  After  four  hours  of  great 
danger  and  difficult  navigation  the  Vincennes  was  ex- 
tricated from  her  perilous  position. 


1840.  SURROUNDED  BY   ICEBERGS.  139 

On  the  17th  of  January  Lieutenant  Wilkes  ordered 
the  Peacock  and  the  Porpoise  to  continue  their  ex- 
plorations independently  of  each  other,  as  he  presumed 
that  the  rivalry  between  the  several  ships'  companies 
would  stimulate  them  to  greater  exertions.  But  the 
three  vessels  cruised  in  sight  of  each  other,  skirting 
along  the  ice  barrier  in  a  westerly  direction,  and  on  the 
23d  of  January  the  Peacock  discovered  an  opening  that 
seemed  to  reach  the  land  to  the  south.  Standing  into 
the  bay  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  January  24th, 
the  ship  suddenly  made  stern-board,  and  while  attempt- 
ing to  box  off  from  some  ice  under  the  bow  she  was 
brought  with  great  force  against  another  mass  of  ice, 
which  destroyed  her  rudder.  As  the  ship  was  found 
to  be  rapidly  entering  the  ice  all  hands  were  called, 
but  every  effort  to  direct  her  course  failed.  Scarcely  a 
moment  now  passed  without  a  collision  with  the  ice, 
every  blow  threatening  to  sink  the  ship.  In  the  hope 
of  bringing  the  rudder  again  into  use,  a  stage  was 
rigged  over  the  stern,  but  on  examination  the  rudder 
was  found  to  be  so  much  injured  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  repair  it  in  its  place,  and  preparations  were 
made  for  unshipping  it.  In  the  mean  time  the  position 
of  the  vessel,  surrounded  by  masses  of  ice  and  driving 
farther  and  farther  into  it  toward  an  immense  wall- 
sided  iceberg,  was  every  instant  growing  more  critical. 
In  consequence  of  her  being  so  closely  encompassed 
all  attempts  to  get  her  on  the  other  tack  failed,  and  it 
was  decided  to  bring  her  head  around  by  hanging 
her  to  an  iceberg  with  ice-anchors.  The  anchor  was 
attached,  but  scarcely  had  the  hawser  been  passed 
aboard  when  the  ship  took  a  sudden  stern-board,  and 
the  rope  was  literally  dragged  out  of  the  men's  hands 
before  they  could  get  a  turn  round  the  bits.  The  ship 
now  drove  stern  foremost  into  the  huge  masses  of  ice, 
striking  the  rudder  a  second  time,  wringing  it  off  the 
head  and  breaking  two  of  the  pintles  and  the  upper 
and  lower  brace. 


140         SCIENTIFIC  AND  EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS.         1840. 

As  the  wind  began  to  freshen  and  the  floe  ice  to 
set  upon  the  ship,  the  sails  were  furled  and  the  spars 
were  rigged  up  and  down  the  ship's  side  as  fenders. 
Boats  were  again  lowered  and  another  attempt  was 
made  to  plant  the  ice  anchors,  but  the  confined  space 
and  the  force  with  which  pieces  of  ice  ground  against 
each  other  was  so  great  that  the  boats  proved  nearly  as 
unmanageable  as  the  ship.  After  much  exertion,  how- 
ever, the  ice-anchors  were  planted  and  the  hawser 
hauled  taut,  and  for  a  time  there  was  comparative 
security,  as  the  vessel  hung  by  the  anchors.  But  the 
ice  continued  to  close  in  rapidly,  gradually  crushing 
and  carrying  away  the  fenders,  and  the  wind,  changing 
to  seaward,  rose  with  the  appearance  that  foreboded 
bad  weather.  At  11.30  A.  M.  the  anchors,  in  spite  of 
the  exertions  of  the  officers  and  men  who  were  near 
them,  broke  loose,  and  the  ship  was  again  at  the  mercy 
of  huge  floating  masses.  A  rapid  stern-board  was  the 
consequence,  and  a  contact  with  the  ice  island — vast, 
perpendicular,  and  high  as  the  masthead — appeared 
inevitable.  Every  possible  preparation  was  made  to 
meet  the  expected  shock.  The  spars  were  got  out 
and  preparations  were  made  to  cockbill  the  yards. 

"  While  these  preparations  were  going  forward," 
wrote  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  "the  imminence  of  the  dan- 
ger lessened  for  a  while — the  anchors  again  held,  and 
there  was  a  hope  that  they  might  bring  the  vessel  up 
before  she  struck.  This  hope,  however,  lasted  but  for 
a  moment  only,  for  the  anchors,  with  the  whole  body 
of  ice  to  which  they  were  attached,  came  in,  and  the 
ship,  going  astern,  struck,  quartering  upon  a  piece  of 
ice  which  lay  between  her  and  the  great  ice  islands. 
This  afforded  the  last  hope  of  preventing  her  from 
coming  in  contact  with  the  ice  island  ;  but  this  hope 
failed  also,  for,  grinding  along  the  ice,  she  went  nearly 
stern  foremost  and  struck  with  her  port  quarter  upon 
the  island  with  a  tremendous  crash.  The  first  effect  of 
this  blow  was  to  carry  away  the  spanker  boom,  the 


1840.  A  NARROW  ESCAPE.  -^ 

port  stern  davit,  and  to  crush  the  stern  boat.  The  star- 
board stern  davit  was  the  next  to  receive  the  shock, 
and  as  this  is  connected  with  the  spar-deck  bulwarks 
the  whole  of  them  were  started  ;  the  knee,  a  rotten  one, 
which  bound  the  davit  to  the  taffrail,  was  broken  off, 
and  with  it  all  the  stanchions  to  the  plank  sheer  as  far 
as  the  gangway.  Severe  as  the  shock  was,  it  happened 
fortunately  that  it  was  followed  by  as  great  a  rebound. 
This  gave  the  vessel  a  cant  to  starboard,  and,  by  the 
timely  aid  of  the  jib  and  other  sails,  carried  her  clear 
of  the  island  and  forced  her  into  a  small  opening. 
While  doing  this,  and  before  the  vessel  had  moved 
half  her  length,  an  impending  mass  of  ice  and  snow 
from  the  towering  iceberg,  started  by  the  shock,  fell  in 
her  wake.  Had  this  fallen  only  a  few  seconds  earlier 
it  must  have  crushed  the  vessel  to  atoms.  It  was  also 
fortunate  that  the  place  where  she  struck  the  ice  island 
was  near  its  southern  end,  so  that  there  was  but  a  short 
distance  to  be  passed  before  she  was  entirely  clear  of 
them.  This  gave  more  room  for  the  drifting  ice,  and 
permitted  the  vessel  to  be  worked  by  her  sails.  The 
relief  from  this  pressing  danger,  however,  gave  no  as- 
surance of  ultimate  safety.  The  weather  had  an  un- 
usually stormy  appearance,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
vessel  seemed  inevitable,  with  the  loss  of  every  life  on 
board.  After  dinner  the  former  manceuvring  was  re- 
sorted to,  the  yards  being  kept  swinging  to  and  fro  in 
order  to  keep  the  ship's  head  in  the  required  direction. 
She  was  laboring  in  the  swell,  with  ice  grinding  and 
thumping  against  her  on  all  sides  ;  every  moment  some- 
thing either  fore  or  aft  was  carried  away — chains,  bolts, 
bobstays,  bowsprit,  shrouds.  Even  the  anchors  were 
lifted,  coming  down  with  a  surge  that  carried  away  the 
eyebolts  and  lashings,  and  left  them  hanging  by  the 
stoppers.  The  cutwater  also  was  injured,  and  every 
timber  seemed  to  groan." 

Boats  were  now  lowered  for  the  purpose  of  planting 
ice  anchors  ahead  of  the  ship,  and  after  two  hours  of 


142         SCIENTIFIC   AND  EXPLORING   EXPEDITIONS.         1840. 

hard  work,  during  which  the  frail  craft  were  in  con- 
stant danger  of  being  crushed  by  the  ice,  this  was  ac- 
complished. At  four  o'clock  it  began  to  snow  violently. 
The  rudder  was  then  unshipped  and  laid  on  the  quarter- 
deck for  repairs,  and  all  night  the  ship  was  tossed  help- 
lessly about,  every  moment  in  imminent  danger  of 
being  ground  to  pieces  by  the  huge  masses  of  ice.  She 
remained  in  this  position  till  the  afternoon  of  the  24th 
of  January,  when,  favored  by  a  fresh  breeze,  she  at  last 
cleared  the  ice  and  gained  the  open  sea. 

During  this  time  the  Vincennes  was  making  her 
way  along  the  ice  barriers,  examining  every  opening 
that  seemed  to  lead  to  the  continent,  which  was  dis- 
tinctly seen  over  the  fields  of  ice.  Having  proceeded 
as  far  as  97°  East  without  being  able  to  reach  the  land, 
Lieutenant  Wilkes,  on  the  21st  of  January,  headed 
north  for  Sydney,  where  he  arrived  on  the  llth  of 
March,  and  found  the  Peacock  at  anchor  there.  The 
Porpoise,  after  parting  company  with  the  other  vessels 
on  the  22d  of  January,  skirted  along  the  ice-bound 
coast  in  a  westerly  direction,  and  on  the  30th  she  fell 
in  with  two  French  exploring  ships  under  the  command 
of  Captain  D'Urville.  Having  met  the  usual  series  of 
storms,  icebergs  and  perils  of  antarctic  navigation,  the 
Porpoise,  after  reaching  a  point  100°  East,  and  64°  65' 
South,  set  out  on  her  return  northward,  and  on  the  5th 
of  March  made  Auckland  Isle.  The  Flying  Fish, 
whose  separation  from  the  squadron  in  January  had 
caused  so  much  anxiety,  was  compelled,  on  account 
of  her  unseaworthy  condition,  to  return  to  port. 

During  the  summer  of  1840  the  squadron  was  en- 
gaged in  exploring  the  islands  of  the  Southern  Archi- 
pelago, and  while  examining  one  of  the  islands  of  the 
Fiji  group  in  July,  a  party  of  Americans  in  a  launch 
and  a  cutter  was  compelled  by  a  storm  to  run  into  a 
bay  for  shelter.  In  beating  out  of  the  place  the  cutter 
ran  on  a  reef,  and  while  it  was  in  this  situation  the 
natives  attacked  it,  and  as  the  ammunition  of  the 


1840.  IN  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 


143 


Americans  had  been  spoiled  by  water  they  abandoned 
the  cutter  and  returned  to  the  Vincennes.  A  detach- 
ment of  seamen,  in  eight  boats,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenants  Wilkes  and  Hudson,  promptly  landed  and 
burned  the  village.  On  the  24th  of  July  the  explorers 
were  again  attacked  by  the  treacherous  islanders.  Past- 
Midshipman  Joseph  A.  Underwood,  with  a  small  party 
of  sailors,  landed  for  the  purpose  of  trading,  but  he 
was  met  with  hostility.  He  ordered  a  retreat  to  the 
boats,  upon  which  the  savages,  many  of  whom  were 
armed  with  muskets,  began  a  furious  assault.  Re-en- 
forcements were  landed,  and  the  Americans  succeeded 
in  putting  the  islanders  to  flight ;  but  Midshipmen 
Underwood  and  Henry  Wilkes  were  mortally  wound- 
ed, and  one  seaman  was  badly  hurt.  Lieutenant 
Ringgold  then  landed  with  a  detachment  of  seventy 
officers  and  men,  at  the  southeast  end  of  the  island, 
and  marched  upon  a  village  in  the  vicinity,  destroying 
the  crops  and  plantations  as  he  advanced.  The  village 
was  defended  by  stockades  formed  by  a  circle  of  cocoa- 
nut  trees  planted  a  few  feet  apart,  the  intervening  space 
being  filled  in  with  strong  wickerwork.  Behind  this 
was  a  trench,  in  which  the  defenders  could  crouch  in 
safety  while  firing  through  loopholes,  and  outside  of 
the  stockade  was  a  ditch  filled  with  water — by  no 
means  a  despicable  stronghold  even  for  disciplined 
troops  to  attack.  The  savages,  confident  in  their  se- 
curity, greeted  their  assailants  with  derisive  shouts 
and  flourished  their  weapons  in  defiance.  By  means 
of  a  rocket  the  Americans  set  fire  to  the  huts  within 
the  stockade,  and  at  the  same  time  they  opened  a  sharp 
fire  of  musketry,  which  killed  a  chief  and  six  of  his 
men.  Upon  this  the  savages  fled  by  an  opposite  gate, 
leaving  their  town  to  be  consumed  by  the  flames.  In 
this  attack  one  American  was  severely  wounded.  Lieu- 
tenant Ringgold  pursued  the  savages  northward  toward 
the  only  remaining  village  on  the  island,  where  he  was 
joined  by  a  boat  party  under  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  who 


144         SCIENTIFIC  AND  EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS.         1840. 

had  already  destroyed  the  village.  The  next  day  the 
entire  population  sued  for  peace  and  promised  good 
behavior  in  the  future. 

In  August  the  squadron  sailed  for  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  on  the  2d  of  December  Lieutenant  Hud- 
son, in  the  Peacock,  accompanied  by  the  Flying  Fish, 
made  an  extended  cruise  among  the  Bowditch,  Samoan, 
Ellice,  and  Kingmill  Islands,  returning  to  the  Hawai- 
ian Islands  early  in  1841,  after  a  cruise  of  nineteen 
thousand  miles.  On  an  Island  of  the  Kingmill  group 
one  of  the  American  sailors  was  captured  by  the  na- 
tives, but  was  not  missed  until  the  seamen  regained 
their  boats.  Inquiries  were  then  made  for  him,  but 
the  natives  professed  ignorance.  After  waiting  two 
days  in  vain  for  some  news  of  the  man,  Lieutenant 
Hudson  ordered  the  Flying  Fish  to  cover  the  landing, 
and  an  attacking  party  of  eighty  men,  under  Lieuten- 
ant Walker,  made  for  the  shore.  Efforts  to  ransom  the 
man  proving  unavailing,  a  rocket  was  fired  into  the 
crowd  of  natives  that  had  assembled  on  the  beach,  and 
this  was  followed  up  by  a  discharge  of  musketry,  which 
killed  twelve  of  the  warriors  and  put  the  rest  to  flight. 
The  detachment  under  Lieutenant  Walker  then  landed, 
and  as  the  natives  still  failed  to  produce  the  lost  sea- 
man their  village  was  destroyed. 

Lieutenant  Hudson  afterward  sailed  for  the  coast  of 
Oregon,  but  while  attempting  to  cross  the  bar  of  Colum- 
bia River,  July  18th,  having  no  pilots  aboard,  he  ran 
the  Peacock  aground.  To  make  matters  worse,  the 
tide  fell,  and  as  the  sea  was  rising,  the  ship  was  soon 
wrecked.  Lieutenant  Hudson  and  his  crew  managed 
to  get  ashore,  and  they  were  rescued  some  time  after- 
ward by  the  Vincennes.  As  early  as  1818  Captain 
James  Biddle,  in  the  sloop  of  war  Ontario,  had  ex- 
plored the  Pacific  coast  and  taken  formal  possession 
of  extensive  tracts  in  the  name  of  the  United  States. 
After  carefully  exploring  the  harbors  and  rivers  on  the 
Pacific  slope,  and  sending  a  land  expedition  from  Ore- 


1840-1848.  ON  THE  COAST  OF   CALIFORNIA. 


145 


gon  to  Yerba  Buena  (now  San  Francisco)  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  George  Foster  Emmons,  Lieu- 
tenant Wilkes  returned  to  the  United  States  by  way 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  arriving  in  New  York  in 
June,  1842,  after  an  absence  of  three  years  and  ten 
months. 

On  the  26th  of  November,  1847,  Lieutenant  William 
Francis  Lynch  sailed  from  New  York  in  the  storeship 
Supply  for  an  exploring  expedition  to  the  Dead  Sea. 
He  arrived  in  the  Mediterranean  early  in  1848,  and 
leaving  his  ship  at  Smyrna,  he  proceeded  to  Constanti- 
nople, where  he  received  the  necessary  permission  for 
his  explorations.  Returning  to  Smyrna,  he  made  sail, 
and  landed  at  Haifa  on  the  21st  of  March.  At  this 
place  the  two  boats  that  had  been  constructed  espe- 
cially for  the  difficult  navigation  of  the  Dead  Sea  and 
the  river  Jordan,  one  made  of  copper  and  the  other 
of  galvanized  iron,  were  placed  on  trucks  and  drawn 
across  the  country  to  Tiberias,  on  the  western  shore 
of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  The  party  consisted  of  Lieuten- 
ants Lynch  and  John  B.  Dale,  Passed-Midshipman 
Richmond  Aulick  and  eleven  seamen.  Their  supplies 
were  transported  by  twenty-three  camels  and  twenty 
horses.  At  Tiberias  the  expedition  was  divided :  one 
detachment  was  to  embark  in  the  boats,  pull  down  the 
sea  to  the  river  Jordan,  and  descend  that  tortuous  and 
rapid  stream  to  the  Dead  Sea ;  while  the  other  division, 
mounted  on  camels  and  horses,  was  to  make  the  same 
journey  by  land,  keeping  as  near  to  the  boat  party  as 
possible,  so  as  to  defend  it  from  wandering  Arabs,  or 
to  assist  in  the  navigation  of  the  stream. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  1848,  the  expedition  left  Tibe- 
rias, and  pulling  down  the  Sea  of  Galilee  began  the 
hazardous  navigation  of  the  Jordan.  The  distance 
from  this  sea  to  the  Dead  Sea  is  not  more  than  sixty 
miles,  but  the  course  pursued  by  the  Jordan  is  over 
two  hundred  miles,  and  in  this  stretch  there  is  a  fall  of 
thirteen  hundred  feet.  In  covering  this  distance  the 

55 


146    SCIENTIFIC   AND  EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS.     1848-1850. 

Jordan  rushes  through  narrow  defiles,  hurls  itself  down 
fearful  rapids,  boils  over  sunken  rocks  and  twists 
around  sharp  curves  at  a  tremendous  speed,  rendering 
it  impossible  for  any  craft,  except  those  specially  con- 
structed, to  pass.  Down  this  rushing  torrent  the  ad- 
venturers boldly  headed  their  craft.  They  repeatedly 
struck  on  rocks,  and  at  times  the  entire  crew  was  com- 
pelled to  leap  into  the  torrent  and  force  the  boats 
over  difficult  places.  After  a  perilous  passage  of  eight 
days  they  reached  the  desolate  waste  of  water  appro- 
priately called  the  Dead  Sea.  Here  a  permanent  en- 
campment was  established,  from  which  numerous  sci- 
entific and  exploring  expeditions  were  made.  After 
several  weeks  spent  in  this  manner,  Lieutenant  Lynch 
occupied  twenty-three  days  in  measuring  the  depres- 
sion of  the  Dead  Sea  below  the  level  of  the  ocean,  which 
he  found  to  be  thirteen  hundred  and  twelve  feet. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1850,  an  expedition  organized 
by  Henry  Grinnell,  of  New  York,  and  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  Edwin  J.  De  Haven,  sailed  from  New  York 
in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  arctic  explorers.  Lieu- 
tenant De  Haven's  vessels  consisted  of  two  heavily  re- 
enforced  brigs,  the  Rescue  and  the  Advance.  By 
the  first  of  July  they  were  fairly  in  Baffin's  Bay,  and 
six  days  later,  while  making  for  what  appeared  to  be 
an  unobstructed  sea,  they  became  imbedded  in  an  ice- 
pack and  were  imprisoned  twenty-one  days,  drifting 
northerly  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  a  day.  Freeing  them- 
selves from  the  pack  on  the  28th  of  July,  the  little 
brigs,  on  the  19th  of  August,  entered  Lancaster  Sound, 
where  on  the  same  day  they  met  the  steamer  Lady 
Franklin,  of  Captain  Penny's  relief  squadron.  Two 
days  later  the  Advance  met  the  schooner  Felix,  com- 
manded by  Sir  John  Ross,  which  was  also  searching 
for  Franklin's  party.  While  off  Radstock  Bay,  Au- 
gust 25th,  the  Advance  discovered  the  first  traces  of 
the  lost  Franklin  party,  in  the  shape  of  a  flagstaff  and 
a  ball,  and,  on  landing,  unmistakable  evidences  of  an 


1850-1851.  IN   THE   ARCTIC  OCEAN. 


147 


encampment  were  found.  Two  days  later  the  Ameri- 
cans began  a  search  for  the  lost  explorers  and  found 
three  graves  with  wooden  headboards,  the  inscriptions 
on  them  showing  that  they  belonged  to  the  lost  explor- 
ing-party.  On  the  llth  of  September  the  Advance 
and  the  Rescue  began  their  return  passage,  but  the 
arctic  winter  set  in  before  they  could  gain  the  open 
sea.  After  beating  around  for  several  weeks  in  a  vain 
endeavor  to  force  a  passage,  preparations  were  made 
for  passing  a  winter  in  the  Arctic  Sea.  Unfortunately, 
they  were  caught  in  the  open  channel,  and  during  the 
winter  months  they  were  carried  from  one  place  to 
another  by  the  ever-drifting  ice,  and  their  position  was 
rendered  more  dangerous  by  the  cracking  of  the  ice, 
which  at  any  time  was  liable  to  ingulf  the  stores  that 
were  deposited  on  the  ice-field. 

On  the  5th  of  December  a  crack  in  the  ice  several 
yards  wide  opened  along  the  side  of  the  Advance,  so 
that  she  was  again  in  her  element ;  but  two  days  later 
the  immense  ice-fields  began  to  grind  their  edges  to- 
gether, catching  the  little  brig  between  them.  A  vessel 
less  substantially  built  would  have  been  crushed  like 
an  eggshell.  As  it  was,  the  little  brig  strained  and 
groaned,  and  so  far  resisted  the  pressure  that  the  ice- 
floe slipped  under  her  and  raised  her  bodily  out  of  the 
water,  with  her  stern  eight  feet  higher  than  her  bow. 
"  On  the  llth  of  January,  1851,"  wrote  Lieutenant  De 
Haven,  "a  crack  occurred  between  the  Advance  and 
the  Rescue,  passing  close  under  our  stern.  It  opened 
and  formed  a  lane  of  water  eighty  feet  wide.  In  the 
afternoon  the  floes  began  to  move  and  the  lane  was 
closed  up,  and  the  edges  of  the  ice  coming  in  contact 
with  so  much  pressure  threatened  the  demolition  of 
the  narrow  space  which  separated  us  from  the  line  of 
fracture.  Fortunately,  the  floes  again  separated,  and 
assumed  a  motion  by  which  the  Rescue  passed  from 
our  stern  to  the  port  bow,  and  increased  her  distance 
from  us  seven  hundred  yards,  when  she  came  to  a 


148        SCIENTIFIC  AND  EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS.  1851. 

stand.  Our  stores  that  were  on  the  ice  were  on  the 
same  side  of  the  ice  as  the  Rescue's,  and,  of  course, 
were  carried  with  her.  The  following  day  the  ice  re- 
mained quiet ;  but  soon  after  midnight  on  the  13th  a 
gale  having  sprung  up  from  the  west,  it  was  once  more 
got  into  violent  motion.  The  young  ice  in  the  crack 
near  our  stern  was  soon  broken  up,  the  edges  of  the 
thick  ice  came  in  contact,  and  a  fearful  pressure  took 
place,  forcing  up  a  line  of  hummock  which  approached 
within  ten  feet  of  our  stern.  The  vessel  trembled  and 
complained  a  great  deal.  At  last  the  floe  broke  up 
around  us  into  many  pieces,  and  became  detached  from 
the  sides  of  the  vessel.  The  scene  of  frightful  commo- 
tion lasted  until  4  A.  M.  Every  moment  I  expected  the 
vessel  would  be  crushed  or  overwhelmed  by  the  mass 
of  ice  forced  up  far  above  our  bulwarks.  The  Rescue, 
being  further  removed  on  the  other  side  of  the  crack 
from  the  line  of  crushing,  and  being  firmly  imbedded 
in  heavy  ice,  I  was  in  hopes  would  remain  undisturbed  ; 
but  this  was  not  the  case,  for,  on  sending  to  her  as  soon 
as  it  was  light  enough  to  see,  the  floe  was  found  to  be 
broken  away  entirely  from  her  bow,  and  there  formed 
into  such  high  hummocks  that  her  bowsprit  was  broken 
off,  together  with  her  head  and  all  the  light  woodwork 
about  it.  Had  the  action  of  the  ice  been  continued 
much  longer  she  would  have  been  destroyed.  Sad 
havoc  had  been  made  among  the  stores  and  provisions 
left  on  the  ice,  and  a  few  barrels  were  recovered  ;  but  a 
large  portion  were  crushed  and  had  disappeared." 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1851,  the  sun  again  appeared, 
having  been  concealed  eighty-seven  days,  and  the 
dreary  night  of  the  arctic  winter  had  passed  away. 
On  the  6th  of  June  a  movement  in  the  ice-floe  liberated 
the  brigs,  and,  shipping  their  rudders  and  leaving  a 
portion  of  their  false  keels  in  the  ice,  they  began  their 
homeward  voyage,  the  Advance  arriving  in  New  York 
on  the  20th  of  August  and  the  Rescue  on  the  7th  of 
September. 


1852-1854  A   FISHERY   DISPUTE.  ^49 

The  seizure  of  seven  American  fishing-vessels  by 
British  cruisers,  acting  under  the  orders  of  Admiral 
Seymour,  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  New  England 
States,  and  on  July  31, 1852,  Captain  Matthew  Calbraith 
Perry,  in  the  Mississippi,  sailed  from  New  York  for 
the  scene  of  trouble.  He  visited  Halifax  and  Cape 
Breton,  Prince  Edward's  Island,  and  found  that  be- 
tween two  thousand  and  three  thousand  American  craft 
were  engaged  in  this  industry,  "furnishing  a  nursery 
for  seamen  of  inestimable  advantage  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  interests  of  the  nation."1  The  difficulty  grew 
out  of  two  interpretations  of  the  clause  "three  miles 
from  the  coast  and  bays,"  the  Americans  differing  from 
the  English  in  their  views  as  to  what  size  of  indenta- 
tion constituted  a  bay.  The  result  of  Captain  Perry's 
visit  was  the  reciprocity  treaty  with  Canada  in  1854, 
which  lasted  ten  years. 

In  the  summer  of  1881  Commander  Winfield  Scott 
Schley,  U.  S.  N.,  now  a  captain,  was  in  Boston  Navy 
Yard,  where  he  heard  of  the  expedition  to  Lady  Frank- 
lin Bay,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Adolphus  W.  Gree- 
ly,  U.  S.  A.  Commander  Schley  remarked,  "Well,  I 
suppose  some  naval  officer  will  have  to  bring  the  ex- 
plorers back,"  little  thinking  at  the  time  that  he  would 
be  selected  for  the  perilous  undertaking.  The  explor- 
ers embarked  in  the  Proteus,  July,  1881,  and  after  a 
remarkably  favorable  passage  landed  at  Fort  Conger, 
Grinnell  Land,  in  August.  The  Proteus  returned 
home,  leaving  enough  provisions  to  support  the  ex- 
plorers three  years.  It  was  arranged  that  another  sup- 
ply vessel  was  to  be  sent  to  Fort  Conger  in  the  fol- 
lowing summer  and  another  in  the  year  after  that ;  so 
Greely's  party  were  left  with  every  assurance  that  they 
wTere  perfectly  safe.  According  to  this  understanding 
the  relief  vessel  Neptune  was  sent  northward  in  the 
summer  of  1882,  but  was  prevented  by  the  ice  from 

1  Official  report  of  Captain  Perry. 


150  GREELY  EXPEDITION.  It 51. 

reaching  the  explorers.  In  the  following  summer  the 
Proteus  endeavored  to  reach  Fort  Conger,  but  the 
vessel  was  sunk  and  her  crew  narrowly  escaped  death. 
Such  was  the  alarming  condition  of  the  Greely  ex- 
pedition in  1884,  when  Commander  Schley  was  called 
upon  to  command  the  third  relief  expedition.  The  ves- 
sels Thetis,  Bear  and  Alert  were  placed  under  his  or- 
ders. Commander  Schley  left  New  York  May  1,  1884, 
arriving  at  St.  John's  May  9th.  From  this  place  the 
two  vessels  made  their  way  north.  After  many  weeks 
of  battling  with  the  ice,  Commander  Schley  found  the 
seven  survivors  of  the  twenty-five  men  composing  the 
Greely  expedition  under  a  tent  near  Cape  Sabine. 
Commander  Schley,  in  his  Rescue  of  Greely,  p.  222, 
graphically  describes  the  rescue:  "It  was  a  sight  of 
horror.  On  one  side,  close  to  the  opening,  with  his 
head  toward  the  outside,  lay  what  apparently  was  a 
dead  man.  His  jaw  had  dropped  ;  his  eyes  were  open, 
but  fixed  and  glassy  ;  his  limbs  were  motionless.  On 
the  opposite  side  was  a  poor  fellow,  alive,  to  be  sure, 
but  without  hands  or  feet  (those  members  having  been 
frozen  off),  and  with  a  spoon  tied  to  the  stump  of  his 
right  arm.  Two  others,  seated  on  the  ground,  in  the 
middle,  had  just  got  down  a  rubber  bottle  that  hung 
on  the  tent-pole,  and  were  pouring  from  it  into  a  tin 
can.  Directly  opposite,  on  his  hands  and  knees,  was 
a  dark  man  with  a  long  matted  beard  and  tattered 
dressing-gown  with  a  little  red  skull-cap  on  his  head 
and  brilliant,  staring  eyes."  This  was  Greely.  The 
other  survivors  were  Sergeants  Elison  and  Fredericks, 
Bierderbick  the  hospital  steward,  and  Privates  Connell, 
Brainard  and  Long.  Had  the  rescue  been  delayed  a 
few  days  longer  even  this  wretched  remnant  of  the 
Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedition  would  not  have  re- 
mained alive  to  tell  the  story  of  their  terrible  suffer- 
ings. With  great  difficulty  Commander  Schley  got 
the  men  aboard  his  ships  and  made  his  way  back  to 
the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MINOR   OCCURRENCES. 

IN  December,  1842,  the  United  States  brig  of  war 
Somers,  Commander  Alexander  Slidell  Mackenzie,  an- 
chored in  New  York  harbor  after  a  protracted  cruise, 
and  announced  that  one  of  her  midshipmen,  Philip 
Spencer,  the  boatswain's  mate,  Samuel  Cromwell,  and 
an  ordinary  seaman,  Elisha  Small,  had  been  hanged  at 
the  yardarm  during  the  cruise  on  suspicion  of  mutiny. 
The  announcement  caused  the  greatest  excitement 
throughout  the  country,  especially  when  it  was  learned 
that  the  men  had  been  executed  without  trial  and  that 
Spencer  was  the  son  of  the  then  Secretary  of  War.  The 
Somers  had  sailed  from  Norfolk,  Va.,  for  a  cruise  in 
the  West  Indies  and  off  the  West  African  coast,  hav- 
ing on  board  a  number  of  cadets,  or  "naval  appren- 
tices," as  they  were  then  called.  After  cruising  off  the 
African  coast  the  Somers  made  for  St.  Thomas. 

While  nearing  the  West  Indies  on  the  night  of 
November  25th,  Midshipman  Spencer,  in  a  mysterious 
manner,  asked  the  purser's  steward,  John  W.  Wales, 
to  get  on  top  of  the  boom,  as  he  had  something  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  communicate  and  was  fearful  of 
being  overheard.  Having  reached  a  safe  place,  Spen- 
cer— a  youth  of  nineteen  years — after  having  received 
Wales's  oath  to  secrecy,  said  he  was  the  ringleader  of 
twenty  of  the  seamen  who  had  arranged  to  instigate  a 
sham  fight  in  a  few  nights,  during  which  the  officer  of 
the  deck  was  to  be  thrown  overboard  and  the  other 
officers  were  to  be  murdered,  and  then  they  were  to 
become  pirates.  Wales  accepted  the  proposition  to 

151 


152  MINOR  OCCURRENCES.  1843. 

become  one  of  the  gang,  but  on  the  following  day  he 
reported  the  affair  to  the  purser,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  whole  matter  was  laid  before  Mackenzie,  who  only 
said:  "I  regard  the  story  as  monstrous  and  improba- 
ble, and  am  under  the  impression  that  Spencer  has 
been  reading  piratical  tales  and  was  amusing  himself 
with  Wales." 

A  close  watch  was  kept  on  Spencer,  however,  and 
he  was  observed  examining  the  charts  and  taking 
down  notes.  It  also  was  noticed  that  he  asked  the 
sailing  master  the  rate  of  the  chronometer,  and  was 
very  intimate  with  the  seamen.  This  induced  Mac- 
kenzie to  examine  the  young  midshipman  personally. 
The  latter  admitted  his  conversation  with  Wales,  but 
declared  that  it  was  all  a  joke.  Spencer  was  arrested 
and  placed  in  irons.  An  investigation  of  his  effects 
revealed  a  mysterious-looking  paper  having  the  names 
of  the  officers  and  crew  spelled  in  Greek,  and  opposite 
to  each  name  were  the  words  "sure"  or  "doubtful," 
and  puzzling  pen  marks. 

On  the  night  of  Spencer's  arrest  there  was  a  mys- 
terious falling  of  a  topmast  and  an  unnecessary  con- 
fusion among  the  seamen  in  clearing  away  the  wreck- 
age, which  so  far  confirmed  Mackenzie's  suspicion  that 
he  armed  all  the  officers  and  placed  double  guards. 
These  suspicions  had  been  further  increased  by  the 
fact  that  Cromwell  and  Small  had  been  detected  in 
holding  clandestine  meetings  with  Spencer  while  he 
was  in  irons  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  the  result  was 
that  Cromwell  and  Small  also  were  placed  in  irons. 
Mackenzie  then  assembled  the  crew  and  apprentices, 
and  warned  them  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Spen- 
cer's plans  and  would  proceed  to  extreme  measures  on 
the  first  attempt  to  carry  out  their  suspected  mutiny. 

On  the  following  day  the  officers  reported  that  the 
men  worked  discontentedly  and  showed  a  sullen  spirit, 
and  that  they  frequently  collected  in  groups  and  con- 
versed in  a  suspicious  manner.  Mackenzie's  suspicions 


1842-1853.  TRAGEDY   IN  THE  SOMERS.  153 

of  a  mutiny  increased  during  the  four  days  Spencer 
was  kept  in  irons,  and  he  summoned  his  six  officers 
in  council.  It  was  decided  that  the  three  men  under 
arrest  were  "guilty  of  a  full  and  determined  intention 
to  commit  a  mutiny  in  this  vessel  of  a  most  atrocious 
character,"  and  it  was  recommended  that  they  be  put 
to  death  at  once.  This  was  done  promptly,  no  trial  or 
examination  of  the  men  having  been-  made,  save  in 
Spencer's  case  already  noted.  All  of  them  protested 
their  innocence  to  the  last.  The  bodies  were  buried 
at  sea.  Others  of  the  suspected  crew  were  placed  in 
irons  and  carried  to  New  York,  where  they  were  re- 
leased by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  A  court 
to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  Somcrs'  officers  was 
at  once  instituted.  The  excitement  all  over  the  coun- 
try was  intense,  powerful  supporters  being  found  for 
each  side.  A  court  martial  quickly  followed  the  court 
of  inquiry,  which  resulted  in  a  verdict  of  "Not  guilty." 
Cooper,  the  naval  historian,  voiced  the  dominating  sen- 
timent of  the  people  when  he  said  of  Mackenzie's  act, 
"If  not  one  of  basest  cowardice,  it  was  of  lamentable 
deficiency  of  judgment. 

There  were  a  number  of  highly  creditable  affairs 
in  which  the  navy  of  the  United  States  was  engaged, 
which,  occurring  in  times  of  peace,  attracted  little  at- 
tention and  were  soon  forgotten.  While  in  command 
of  the  sloop  of  war  St.  Louis  at  Smyrna,  July  2,  1853, 
Commander  Duncan  Nathaniel  Ingraham  boldly  pre- 
pared to  attack  the  Austrian  war  ship  Hussar,  which 
was  considerably  superior  in  force.  Aboard  the  Hus- 
sar was  Martin  Koszta,  an  Austrian  who,  two  years 
before,  in  New  York  city,  had  declared  his  intention 
of  becoming  an  American  citizen.  Having  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  Austrian  Government,  Koszta 
was  seized  while  in  Smyrna  on  business  and  confined 
in  the  Hussar.  Ingraham  cleared  for  action,  and  de- 
clared that  he  would  attack  the  Austrian  war  ship  if 
Koszta  was  not  surrendered  by  4  p.  M.  Before  that 


154 


MINOR  OCCURRENCES.  1856. 


hour,  however,  satisfactory  arrangements  were   made 
and  battle  was  averted. 

While  endeavoring  to  protect  the  property  of  Amer- 
ican residents  in  Canton,  China,  November  16,  1856, 
just  before  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  England 
and  China,  Commander  Andrew  Hull  Foote,  of  the 
sloop  of  war  Portsmouth,  was  fired  upon  by  one  of  the 
forts.  His  demand  for  an  apology  being  refused,  he 
got  the  permission  of  Captain  James  Armstrong,  com- 
mander of  the  Asiatic  squadron,  to  avenge  the  insult. 
Landing  with  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  sailors 
and  marines  and  four  howitzers,  November  20th,  after 
the  Portsmouth,  the  San  Jacinto,  Commander  Henry 
II.  Bell,  and  the  Levant,  Commander  William  Smith, 
had  bombarded  the  Chinese,  Foote  attacked  the  forts. 
There  were  four  of  them,  built  of  massive  granite  eight 
feet  thick,  and  mounting  in  all  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-six guns  and  garrisoned  by  about  five  thousand 
men.  On  account  of  the  shoal  water,  tji£  boats  could 
not  run  close  in  to  the  bank,  whereupoi](ourtnen  jumped 
into  the  water  waist  deep  and  wadea~fo  the  shore, 
where  they  formed  into  three  columns,  led  by  Com- 
manders Foote,  Bell  and  Smith,  while  Captain  John 
D.  Simmes  led  the  detachment  of  marines.  Making  a 
detour  so  as  to  gain  the  rear  of  the  first  fort,  the  men 
waded  through  the  soft  mud  of  the  rice  fields,  drag- 
ging the  howitzers  after  them.  Fording  a  creek,  they 
charged  the  works,  which  mounted  fifty-three  guns, 
many  of  them  of  the  heaviest  calibers.  The  Chinese 
fled  with  a  loss  of  about  fifty  killed.  The  fort  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  now  opened  on  the  victorious 
Americans,  but  was  soon  silenced  by  the  guns  in  the 
captured  fort.  An  army  from  Canton  threatened  the 
rear  of  the  Americans,  but  our  seamen  opened  such  a 
galling  fire  that  the  enemy  retreated. 

On  the  following  day  our  cruisers  and  boats  ad- 
vanced iipon  the  remaining  forts.  While  under  a 
heavy  fire  one  of  the  San  Jacinto's  boats  was  raked 


1859-1867.      "BLOOD   IS  THICKER  THAN  WATER."  ^55 

by  a  64-pound  shot,  which  killed  three  and  wounded 
seven  of  the  crew.  The  Portsmouth1  s  launch  also  was 
sunk.  In  spite  of  this  fire,  our  men  eagerly  pressed 
forward  to  attack  the  second  fort,  which  mounted 
forty-one  guns.  This  place  was  carried  in  handsome 
style  at  4  p.  M.,  and  its  guns  were  turned  on  the  third 
fort,  which  also  surrendered.  Meantime  a  detachment 
of  marines  had  captured  a  6-gun  battery  on  shore. 
Early  on  November  22d  the  fourth  and  last  fort,  mount- 
ing thirty-eight  guns,  was  captured,  the  total  loss  of 
the  Americans  in  these  attacks  being  twelve  killed  and 
twenty-eight  wounded.  About  four  hundred  of  the 
Chinese  were  killed.  Having  accomplished  their  pur- 
pose, the  Americans  returned  to  their  ships.  Mas- 
ter George  Eugene  Belknap  commanded  one  of  the 
launches,  and  assisted  in  undermining  and  blowing  up 
the  works. 

Three  years  after  this,  Captain  Josiah  Tattnall  ren- 
dered a  conspicuous  service  to  the  English  and  French 
gunboats  that  were  attacking  the  Chinese  forts  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Peiho  River,  China.  While  attempting 
to  remove  the  obstructions  in  the  river,  June  25,  1859, 
the  eleven  gunboats  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Sir 
James  Hope  were  unexpectedly  fired  upon  by  the 
Chinese  forts,  and  a  desperate  battle  followed,  in  which 
several  hundred  of  the  English  were  killed  and  they 
were  finally  routed.  Tattnall,  as  a  neutral,  had  wit- 
nessed the  affair  in  the  chartered  steamer  Toey-Wan, 
and  exclaiming,  "Blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  called 
for  his  launch,  and,  pulling  through  the  thickest  of 
the  fire,  visited  the  British  flagship.  Just  before 
reaching  the  vessel  the  American  boat  was  sunk  by  a 
Chinese  shot,  the  coxswain  was  killed  and  Lieutenant 
Stephen  Decatur  Trenchard  was  dangerously  wounded. 
During  the  half  hour  or  more  the  Americans  were 
aboard  the  boat  crew  assisted  the  English  in  firing  the 
guns.  Afterward  the  Toey-Wan  towed  up  the  English 
reserves  and  brought  them  into  action.  Although  this 


156  MINOR  OCCURRENCES.  1859-1867. 

was  a  violation  of  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States, 
Tattnall  was  not  seriously  punished  for  the  affair,  and 
he  won  the  gratitude  of  the  British  for  his  heroism. 
The  expression  ' '  Blood  is  thicker  than  water  "  was  con- 
spicuous at  the  dinner  given  to  Rear- Admiral  Erben 
and  Captain  Mahan  in  London,  June,  1894. 

Learning  that  the  American  bark  Rover  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  southeast  end  of  the  island  of  For- 
mosa, and  that  her  crew  had  probably  been  murdered, 
Commander  John  Carson  Febiger,  in  the  AsTiuclot,  ap- 
peared off  that  island,  April,  1867.  The  officials  dis- 
claimed all  responsibility  for  the  affair,  saying  that  the 
outrage  had  been  perpetrated  by  a  horde  of  savages 
over  whom  they  had  no  control.  Febiger  returned  to 
Rear-Admiral  Henry  H.  Bell,  then  commanding  the 
Asiatic  squadron,  with  this  report,  upon  which  the 
admiral  sailed  for  Formosa  with  the  Hartford  and  the 
Wyoming,  and  on  June  13th  landed  one  hundred  and 
eighty-one  men,  under  Commander  George  Eugene 
Belknap,  who  gallantly  drove  the  savages  into  the  in- 
terior and  burned  their  huts.  While  leading  a  charge 
into  one  of  the  numerous  ambuscades  skillfully  pre- 
pared by  the  natives,  Lieutenant-Commander  Alexan- 
der Slidell  Mackenzie  was  killed.  A  few  months  later, 
January  11, 1868,  Rear-Admiral  Bell  was  drowned  while 
endeavoring  to  enter  Osaka  River,  Japan.  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Francis  John  Higginson,  now  rear-admi- 
ral, was  present  on  this  occasion  and  assisted  in  recov- 
ering the  admiral's  body. 

On  January  25,  1859,  Captain  William  Branford 
Shubrick  arrived  at  Asuncion,  Paraguay,  with  a  fleet 
of  nineteen  vessels,  carrying  two  hundred  guns  and 
twenty-five  hundred  men,  to  take  decisive  measures 
against  the  people  of  that  country  for  firing  on  the 
United  States  steamer  Water  Witch  the  preceding  year. 
Hostilities  were  averted  only  by  the  prompt  apology 
and  payment  of  indemnity  by  the  Paraguayan  Gov- 
ernment. Shubrick  was  highly  complimented  for  his 
spirited  management  of  this  affair. 


PART   FIFTH. 

THE   CIVIL  WAR 

1861-1865. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEGINNING  OF   HOSTILITIES. 

WHEN  President  Lincoln  came  into  office,  March  4, 
1861,  the  navy  of  the  United  States  consisted  of  ninety 
vessels,  of  which  twenty-one  were  unserviceable,  twen- 
ty-seven were  out  of  commission,  and  forty-two  were 
in  commission.  The  forty-two  vessels  in  commission 
were  the  screw  frigate  Niagara,  returning  from  Japan  ; 
the  first-class  screw  sloops  of  war  San  Jacinto  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  Lancaster  in  the  Pacific,  Brooklyn  at 
Pensacola,  Hartford  in  the  East  Indies  and  Richmond 
in  the  Mediterranean ;  the  second-class  screw  sloops  of 
war  Mohican  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  Narragansett  in 
the  Pacific,  Iroquois  in  the  Mediterranean,  Pawnee  in 
Washington,  Wyoming  in  the  Pacific,  Dakota  in  the 
East  Indies,  Pocahontas  returning  from  Yera  Cruz 
and  Seminole  at  Brazil ;  the  third-class  screw  steamers 
Wyandotte  at  Pensacola,  Mohawlc  and  Crusader  at 
New  York  and  Sumter  and  Mystic  on  the  coast  of 
Africa ;  the  side-wheel  steamers  Susquehanna  in  the 
Mediterranean,  Powhatan  returning  from  Yera  Cruz 
and  Saranac  in  the  Pacific ;  the  sailing  frigates  Con- 
gress on  the  coast  of  Brazil  and  Sabine  at  Pensacola  ; 
the  sailing  sloops  of  war  Cumberland  returning  from 
Yera  Cruz,  Constellation.  Portsmouth  and  Saratoga 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  Macedonian  at  Yera  Cruz,  St. 
Mary's,  Cyane  and  Levant  in  the  Pacific  ;  the  John 
Adams  and  the  Vandalia  in  the  East  Indies ;  the  St. 
Louis  at  Pensacola ;  the  side-wheel  steamers  Michigan 
on  Lake  Erie,  Pulaski  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  and  Sagi- 
naw  in  the  East  Indies ;  the  storeship  Relief  on  the 

159 


160  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

coast  of  Africa,  the  Release  and  the  Supply  in  New 
York ;  and  the  steam  tender  Anacostia  in  Washington. 
From  this  list  of  the  vessels  in  commission  it  will 
be  seen  that  only  eleven,  carrying  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  guns,  or  less  than  half  of  the  entire 
force,  were  in  American  waters,  while  the  other  vessels 
were  scattered  all  over  the  globe  and  the  most  for- 
midable vessels  in  American  waters  were  in  a  Southern 
port.1  This  disposition  of  the  navy  had  been  made 
under  the  preceding  Administration  in  the  interests  of 
the  Confederacy  that  was  so  soon  to  be  formed.  Al- 
though orders  recalling  the  vessels  stationed  on  the 
African  coast  had  been  made  out  as  soon  as  possible 
after  March  4th,  they  did  not  begin  to  arrive  at  home 
ports  until  some  months  later.  A  number  of  the 
cruisers  were  commanded  by  Southern  officers,  and  it 
was  confidently  asserted  that  they  would  run  their  ves- 
sels into  some  Southern  port  and  deliver  them  over  to 
the  Confederacy  ;  but  it  speaks  well  for  the  loyalty  of 
the  navy  that  no  attempt  of  this  kind  was  made.  In 
the  sailing  vessels,  32-pounders  and  8-inch  shell  guns 
were  the  principal  armaments,  while  the  new  steam 
frigates  and  sloops  of  war  were  armed  with  9-,  10-  and 
11-inch  Dahlgren  smooth-bore  shell  guns.  The  10-inch 
guns  were  usually  mounted  as  pivot  guns.  The  total 

1  The  vessels  that  were  out  of  commission  but  could  be  readily  made 
available  for  service  were  the  screw  frigates  Roanoke,  Wabash,  Colorado, 
Merrimac  and  Minnesota ;  the  first-class  screw  sloop  of  war  Pensacola ; 
the  side-wheel  steamer  Mississippi ;  the  third-class  side- wheel  steamer 
Water  Witch  ;  the  ship  of  the  line  Vermont ;  the  sailing  frigates  Potomac, 
Brandywine,  St.  Lawrence,  Raritan  and  Santee ;  the  sailing  sloops  of  war 
Savannah,  Plymouth,  Jamestown,  Germantoum,  Vincennes,  Decatur,  Mar- 
ion, Dale  and  Preble ;  the  brigs  of  war  Bainbridge,  Perry  and  Dolphin  ; 
and  the  steam  tender  John  Hancock.  The  unserviceable  vessels  were  the 
screw  frigate  Franklin  on  the  stocks  at  Kittery ;  the  side-wheel  vessel  Ful- 
ton ;  the  steam  floating  battery  Stevens ;  the  ships  of  the  line  Pennsylvania, 
Columbus,  Ohio,  North  Carolina,  Delaware,  New  Orleans,  Alabama,  Vir- 
ginia and  New  York  •  the  sailing  frigates  Constitution,  United  States  and 
Columbia  ;  the  store  and  receiving  vessels  Independence,  Fredonia,  Fal- 
mouth,  Warren,  Allegheny  and  Princeton. 


1861.  INCREASING  THE  NAVY.  161 

number  of  officers  of  all  grades  in  the  navy  on  August 
1,  1861,  was  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty- seven,  besides 
whom  a  large  volunteer  force  was  called  for,  and  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  volunteer  officers  enrolled  before 
the  close  of  the  war.  Three  hundred  and  twenty-two 
officers  resigned  from  the  United  States  navy  and  en- 
tered the  navy  of  the  seceding  States,  of  which  number 
two  hundred  and  forty-three  were  officers  of  the  line. 
The  number  of  sailors  in  the  navy  at  the  opening  of 
the  war  was  seven  thousand  six  hundred,  which  num- 
ber was  increased  to  fifty-one  thousand  five  hundred 
before  the  close  of  hostilities. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  how  inadequate  was 
this  force  to  blockade  the  extensive  and  intricate  coast 
line  of  the  seceding  States.  From  Chesapeake  Bay 
with  its  many  tributaries,  down  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
and  along  the  Gulf  to  the  Rio  Grande,  were  three 
thousand  miles  of  coast  line  broken  by  many  harbors 
and  inlets,  which  it  was  necessary  to  blockade.  See- 
ing the  impossibility  of  accomplishing  this  essential 
object  with  the  force  in  hand,  the  Government  imme- 
diately began  increasing  its  naval  power.  By  purchas- 
ing every  merchant  craft  that  could  be  adapted  to  war 
purposes,  either  as  a  transport  or  a  fighting  vessel,  the 
Government  secured  a  large  fleet  that  proved  effective 
in  the  kind  of  warfare  for  which  it  was  designed.  The 
construction  of  eight  additional  sloops  of  war  was 
begun,  and  contracts  with  ship-builders  were  entered 
upon  for  heavily  armed  and  iron-plated  gunboats. 
The  latter  were  ready  for  commission  in  three  months, 
and  became  famous  as  the  "ninety-day  gunboats." 
Thirty-nine  double  end  side- wheel  steamers  for  river 
service  were  also  rapidly  pushed  to  completion,  while 
several  ironclads  were'  begun.  By  these  energetic 
measures  the  strength  of  the  navy  was  greatly  in- 
creased, and  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  United  States 
was  the  most  powerful  maritime  nation  in  the  world. 

The   Secretary  of  the  Navy  during   the  civil  war 

56 


162  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

and  for  several  years  after  was  Gideon  Welles.  Realiz- 
ing the  necessity  of  having  a  professional  man  near 
him  in  this  great  emergency,  Mr.  Welles  secured  Lieu- 
tenant Gustavus  Vasa  Fox  for  assistant  secretary. 
Mr.  Fox  entered  the  navy  as  a  midshipman  in  1838, 
and  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  but  in  1856  he  re- 
signed. He  always  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  navy, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  to  proffer  his  services  when 
they  were  needed.  The  chiefs  of  bureaus  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Lincoln's  administration  were :  Yards  and 
Docks,  Captain  Joseph  Smith ;  Construction,  John 
Lenthal ;  Provisions  and  Clothing,  Horatio  Bridge  ; 
Ordnance  and  Hydrography,  Captain  George  W.  Ma- 
gruder ;  Medicine,  Surgeon  William  Whelan.  These 
were  the  men  (excepting  Captain  Magruder,  who  re- 
signed and  entered  the  Confederate  service)  who  had 
the  management  of  the  United  States  navy  at  the  out- 
break of  and  during  the  civil  war,  and  to  them  in  a 
large  measure  is  due  the  credit  of  raising  the  nation 
from  one  of  the  least  to  the  greatest  maritime  power  in 
the  world.  The  seceding  States  were  not  only  desti- 
tute of  war  vessels,  but  did  not  have  a  large  merchant 
marine.  Furthermore,  they  were  deficient  in  skilled 
mechanics,  shipyards  and  plant  with  which  to  build  a 
navy,  and  while  they  had  able  officers  they  were  lack- 
ing in  trained  sailors.  Such  being  the  case,  the  navy 
of  the  Confederacy,  except  in  a  few  notable  instances, 
remained  on  the  defensive. 

Previously  to  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  the  South- 
ern forces  at  Charleston  had  assumed  such  a  threaten- 
ing attitude  as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  their  intention 
of  gaining  possession  of  that  stronghold.  Repeated 
calls  were  made  by  Major  Anderson,  commander  of 
the  fort,  for  re-enforcements,  but  the  new  Administra- 
tion was  beset  with  many  difficulties  and  perplexities. 
In  the  mean  time  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West,  which 
had  attempted  to  re-enforce  Fort  Sumter  early  in  the 
year,  had  been  fired  upon  by  the  State  batteries  near 


1861. 


THE  SEAT  OF   WAR. 


163 


164:  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

Charleston  and  failed  to  accomplish  its  mission.  Be- 
tween the  7th  and  the  10th  of  April,  the  sloops  of  war 
Pawnee  and  Pocahontas,  the  steamers  Harriet  Lane 
and  Baltic  and  two  tug  boats,  sailed  separately  from 
New  York  with  provisions  and  re-enforcements  for 
Sumter.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  April 
12th  the  Baltic  and  the  Harriet  Lane  arrived  off 
Charleston,  and  three  hours  later  the  Pawnee  hove  in 
sight.  While  the  commanders  of  these  vessels  were 
approaching  the  harbor  they  heard  the  report  of 
shotted  guns;  soon  afterward  smoke  was  seen  in  the 
direction  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  by  daylight  the  contin- 
uous roar  of  heavy  artillery  proclaimed  that  civil  war 
had  begun.  When  it  was  seen  that  the  American  flag 
was  still  waving  at  Sumter,  Commander  Stephen  Clegg 
Rowan,  of  the  Pawnee,  immediately  declared  his  inten- 
tion of  running  in  to  the  relief  of  the  garrison.  But 
Lieutenant  Gustavus  Vasa  Fox,  commander  of  the 
expedition,  would  not  consent  to  so  perilous  an  under- 
taking, and  all  day  long  they  lay  off  the  harbor,  watch- 
ing with  agonized  interest  the  pitiless  rain  of  iron  that 
fell  upon  the  fort.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  13th 
dense  volumes  of  smoke  were  seen  rising  from  the  fort, 
showing  that  the  woodwork  was  burning,  and  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  heroic  defenders  surren- 
dered. Fort  Sumter  was  evacuated  on  the  14th  of 
April,  and  its  garrison  was  placed  in  the  Baltic  and 
taken  to  New  York.  On  the  day  Sumter  was  fired 
upon  the  frigate  SaMne  and  the  sloop  of  war  Brooklyn 
arrived  at  Fort  Pickens,  in  Pensacola  harbor,  and  land- 
ed re-enforcements. 

The  old  frigate  Constitution,  which  at  the  begin- 
ning of  hostilities  was  lying  at  Annapolis  as  a  training 
ship,  was  in  great  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  Confederates,  which  would  give  a  sentimental  sup- 
port to  their  cause.  About  this  time  the  Eighth  Massa- 
chusetts Regiment,  under  Brigadier-General  Benjamin 
Franklin  Butler,  was  in  the  vicinity,  and  with  the  aid 


1861.  LIEUT.   PHELPS  IN   THE  POTOMAC.  165 

of  a  detachment  of  these  troops  the  ship  was  guarded 
until  towed  to  New  York.  This  was  as  narrow  an 
escape  as  the  Constitution  ever  had  from  having  any 
other  than  the  American  flag  floating  at  her  gaff. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  dangerous  services 
in  the  war,  and  yet  one  that  was  least  likely  to  lead  to 
fame,  was  that  of  surveying  the  Southern  rivers,  bays 
and  sounds,  and  replacing  the  buoys.  On  the  with- 
drawal of  Virginia  from  the  Union  the  Confederates 
promptly  removed  all  light-boats  and  buoys  and  de- 
stroyed the  range  of  guiding  marks  in  the  Potomac 
River.  This,  together  with  the  destruction  of  the  Gun- 
powder and  Nye  bridges  in  Maryland  and  the  hostility 
of  the  people  in  Baltmore,  for  the  time  almost  cut  off 
Washington  from  communication  with  the  North. 
Realizing  the  necessity  of  regaining  the  control  of  this 
water-way,  the  Government  cast  about  for  an  officer  to 
perform  the  perilous  duty  of  surveying  the  stream  and 
replacing  the  buoys.  Lieutenant  Thomas  Stowell 
Phelps  was  selected,  by  ballot  of  a  board  consisting  of 
the  chiefs  of  departments,  as  an  officer  "skilled  in  sur- 
veying." On  his  arrival  in  Washington  early  in  May, 
Lieutenant  Phelps  found  at  the  navy  yard  six  river 
steamboats  and  the  armed  tender  Anacostia.  He  se- 
lected the  Anacostia  and  a  large  steamer  called  the 
Philadelphia  for  his  work.  Four  12-pound  army  field 
guns  were  placed  aboard  the  PJiiladelphia,  two  mount- 
ed on  each  end,  covered  with  old  canvas,  so  as  to  con- 
ceal them  as  much  as  possible  from  the  enemy.  Be- 
sides the  crew,  a  company  from  the  Seventy-first  New 
York  Regiment  was  placed  aboard. 

The  work  of  surveying  the  Potomac  was  imme- 
diately begun  and  was  steadily  pushed  to  comple- 
tion, although  the  men  engaged  in  it  w^ere  constantly 
exposed  to  the  enemy's  bullets.  The  Anacostia,  an 
exceedingly  slow  boat,  was  soon  lost  sight  of,  so  that 
most  of  the  work  was  done  by  the  Philadelphia.  The 
crew  was  carefully  concealed,  and  the  surveying  party 


IQQ  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

was  judiciously  stationed  so  that  the  two  leadsmen,  the 
pilot  and  helmsmen  in  the  pilot-house,  and  Lieuten- 
ant Phelps  directing  the  work  with  the  draughtsman 
Charles  Junkin  near  him  to  assist  in  angling,  were  the 
only  people  in  view.  Thus  organized,  the  men  rapidly 
advanced  with  their  work,  and  on  the  first  night  they 
anchored  near  Blackistone  Island.  The  people  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  were  hostile,  and  when  the  boats 
anchored  at  night  the  greatest  care  was  necessary  to 
guard  against  surprises.  At  Aquia  Creek  the  Con- 
federates had  erected  a  battery  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
guns,  and  as  it  was  particularly  important  that  this 
part  of  the  river  should  be  surveyed,  Lieutenant  Phelps 
boldly  ran  under  the  guns,  so  near  that  even  without 
the  aid  of  a  field  glass  the  gunners  could  be  seen  with 
lock  strings  in  hand  ready  to  fire.  For  two  hours  the 
guns  were  kept  trained  upon  the  little  steamer  as  she 
passed  to  and  fro  over  the  water,  frequently  so  near  as 
to  require  extreme  depression  of  the  cannon  to  keep 
them  bearing,  and  at  no  time  beyond  easy  reach  of  the 
iron  messengers.  But  not  a  gun  was  fired.  A  few 
years  afterward  it  was  learned  that  Colonel  William  F. 
Lynch,  the  commander  of  the  battery,  refrained  from 
firing  because  he  believed  her  to  be  the  "property  of 
some  poor  devil  who  had  lost  his  way,  and  from  her 
appearance  was  not  worth  the  powder,"  although  he 
said  that  both  the  officers  and  men  "were  crazy  to  try 
and  sink  the  vessel,  and  vainly  -implored  for  permis- 
sion to  do  so."  1  If  they  had  suspected  her  character 
and  object  she  would  have  been  promptly  riddled  with 
shot.  Lieutenant  Phelps  accomplished  his  work  in 
the  most  thorough  manner,  and  he  was  highly  compli- 
mented by  the  Navy  Department. 

For  a  few  months  after  the  firing  on  Sumter  there 
was  a  lull  in  the  excitement.  In  the  mean  time  a 
patrol  of  Potomac  River  was  maintained  night  and  day. 

1  Rear- Admiral  Phelps  to  the  author. 


1861. 


PATROLLING  THE  POTOMAC. 


167 


This  hazardous  service  was  performed  by  Commander 
James  Harman  Ward  with  the  improvised  gunboats 
Freeborn,  a  side-wheel  steamer  carrying  three  guns, 
the  Anacostia,  a  propeller  carrying  two  guns,  and  the 


Scene  of  naval  operations  on  the  Potomac. 

-Resolute,  carrying  two  guns.  With  these  vessels  Com- 
mander Ward,  on  the  31st  of  May,  opened  fire  on  the 
batteries  at  Aquia  Creek,  and  in  two  hours  drove  the 
Southerners  from  the  lower  batteries  to  the  guns  they 
had  mounted  on  the  hill.  As  the  National  vessels 


168  BEGINNING   OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

could  not  elevate  their  guns  sufficiently  to  drive  the 
enemy  from  his  second  position,  Commander  Ward  re- 
tired, with  little  or  no  damage  to  his  flotilla.  On  the 
following  day  the  sloop  of  war  Pawnee,  Commander 
Rowan,  came  down  from  Washington,  and  the  attack 
was  renewed.  For  five  hours  a  spirited  fire  was  main- 
tained, which  finally  drove  the  Confederates  from  their 
position.  In  this  affair  the  Pawnee  was  struck  nine 
times.  On  the  27th  of  June  Commander  Ward  at- 
tacked the  enemy  at  Mathias  Point.  A  body  of  sailors 
was  landed  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  James 
C.  Chaplin,  of  the  Pawnee,  and  the  vessels  opened  a 
heavy  fire.  While  in  the  act  of  sighting  a  gun,  Com- 
mander Ward  was  shot  in  the  abdomen,  and  he  soon 
died.  About  this  time  a  large  body  of  Confederate 
soldiers  approached  the  sailors  under  Lieutenant  Chap- 
lin and  compelled  them  to  return  to  their  boats.  Lieu- 
tenant Chaplin  was  the  last  man  to  retire,  and  aroused 
much  admiration  by  his  coolness.  The  vessels  were 
unable  to  withstand  the  enemy's  fire,  and  retreated, 
with  a  loss  of  one  killed  and  four  wounded.1 

Captain  Thomas  Tingey  Craven  succeeded  Com- 
mander Ward  in  command  of  the  Potomac  flotilla.  On 
the  night  of  October  llth,  Lieutenant  Abram  Davis 
Harrel,  with  three  boats,  entered  Quantico  Creek,  de- 
stroyed a  schooner  that  the  enemy  had  anchored  there, 
and  escaped  in  spite  of  a  heavy  fire.  Many  daring  cut- 
ting-out exploits  like  this  took  place  along  these  waters 

1  James  Harman  Ward  was  born  in  1806  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He  en- 
tered the  navy  as  a  midshipman  March  4. 1823,  and  with  several  other  mid- 
shipmen received  his  education  in  the  military  school  at  Norwich,  Vt.  He 
was  in  the  Constitution  in  1824-'28,  and  became  a  lieutenant  March  3, 
1831.  From  1845  to  1847  he  was  an  instructor  in  the  Annapolis  Naval 
Academy,  and  in  1849-'50  he  commanded  the  Vixen,  of  the  home  squad- 
ron. On  September  9,  1853,  he  was  made  a  commander,  and  in  May,  1861, 
he  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  the  Potomac  flotilla.  He  was  the  authcr 
of  two  text-books  that  were  used  in  the  Naval  Academy  many  years- 
Manual  of  Naval  Tactics  and  Elementary  Course  of  Instruction  in  Naval 
Ordnance  and  Gunnery.  He  also  wrote  Steam  for  the  Million. 


1861.  GALLANT  CAPTURE  OP  THE  JUDAH.  169 

which  can  not  here  be  recorded.  The  several  command- 
ers of  the  patrol  of  the  Potomac  who  succeeded  Captain 
Craven  were  Commanders  Robert  Harris  Wyman,  An- 
drew Allen  Harwood  and  Foxhall  Alexander  Parker. 
On  the  24th  of  June  the  Pawnee,  Commander  Rowan, 
in  co-operation  with  Ellsworth's  Zouaves,  compelled  the 
Confederates  to  evacuate  Alexandria,  and  Lieutenant 
Reigart  B.  Lowry,  landing  with  a  detachment  of  sea- 
men, took  possession  of  the  town  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States. 

About  this  time  a  dashing  cutting-out  affair  occurred 
at  Pensacola.  The  Confederates  had  been  fitting  out 
the  schooner  JudaJi  as  a  privateer  in  the  navy  yard  in 
that  harbor,  and  as  an  additional  protection  a  thousand 
soldiers  were  stationed  on  the  wharf  near  by.  At  three 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September  14th  a  boat  party 
from  the  frigate  Colorado,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant John  Henry  Russell — consisting  of  the  launch 
with  thirty-nine  men  ;  the  first  cutter,  Lieutenant  John 
G.  Sproston,  with  eighteen  men  ;  the  second  cutter, 
Lieutenant  Francis  B.  Blake,  with  twenty-six  men  ; 
the  third  cutter,  Midshipman  Tecumseh  Steece,  with 
seventeen  men— set  out  to  capture  the  Judah.  When 
about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  schooner  the  boats 
were  discovered  by  sentinels  and  fired  upon.  The  men 
bent  to  their  oars,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  first  and 
third  cutters  were  alongside  the  wharf  and  the  sailors 
landed.  Only  one  man  was  found  on  guard,  and  he 
was  shot,  while  in  the  act  of  discharging  a  gun,  by  Gun- 
ner Borton.  The  other  boats  made  directly  for  the 
schooner,  where  a  desperate  hand-to-hand  encounter 
took  place,  some  of  the  Confederates  getting  into  the 
tops  and  firing  with  effect.  Assistant  Engineer  White, 
with  a  coal-heaver,  rushed  into  the  cabin,  where  they 
kindled  a  fire  and  soon  had  the  vessel  in  flames,  upon 
which  the  men  returned  to  their  boats.  By  this  time  a 
large  crowd  of  soldiers  and  civilians  had  gathered  on 
the  wharf  and  opened  a  straggling  fire,  which  was  re- 


170  BEGINNING  OP  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

turned  with,  six  discharges  of  the  boat  howitzer.  About 
twenty  of  the  boat  party  were  killed  or  wounded,1 
Lieutenant  Russell  being  among  the  latter.  That  officer 
was  highly  complimented  by  the  Navy  Department  for 
this  handsome  affair.  Lieutenant  Sproston  was  killed 
June  8,  1862,  in  Florida,  by  an  outlaw.  From  this 
time  to  the  close  of  the  war  there  was  little  or  no 
activity  around  Pensacola,  except  on  November  22, 
1861,  when  the  Niagara  and  the  Richmond  joined 
Fort  Pickens  in  the  bombardment  of  Fort  McRae. 

Having  heard  that  the  British  mail  steamer  Trent 
would  sail  from  Havana,  November  7th,  for  England, 
with  two  agents  of  the  Confederate  Government,  John 
Slidell  and  James  Murray  Mason,  with  their  secretaries, 
Messrs.  Eustis  and  McFarland,  on  board  as  passengers, 
Captain  Charles  Wilkes  (who  had  commanded  the  Vin- 
cennes  in  her  celebrated  scientific  and  exploring  expedi- 
tion around  the  world  in  1838-'42),  of  the  San  Jacinto, 
stationed  his  vessel  in  the  passage  of  the  Old  Bahama 
Channel,  where  the  Trent  was  likely  to  pass.  About 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  November  8th  the 
lookout  in  the  San  Jacinto  reported  the  smoke  of  a 
steamer  approaching,  and  soon  afterward  the  Trent 
was  made  out  from  the  deck.  Captain  Wilkes  immedi- 
ately sent  his  crew  to  quarters,  and  about  1  P.  M.2  he 
unfurled  his  colors  and  fired  a  shell  across  the  Eng- 
lishman's bow.  Mr.  Moir,  commander  of  the  Trent, 
showed  English  colors  and  continued  on  his  course, 
upon  which  Captain  Wilkes  fired  another  shot.  This 
brought  the  Trent  to.  A  boat  was  sent  alongside 
under  the  orders  of  Lieutenant  Donald  McNeill  Fair- 
fax, who  reported  to  Captain  Wilkes  that  the  Con- 
federate agents  insisted  on  force  being  used  in  their 
removal  from  the  packet.  Lieutenant  James  Augustin 
Greer  accordingly  was  sent  with  an  armed  party,  and 
the  Confederate  commissioners  and  their  secretaries 

1  Bear- Admiral  Russell  to  the  author.    Midshipman  Francis  John  Iliggin- 
son,  now  rear-admiral,  was  wounded  by  a  musket  shot  in  this  gallant  affair. 
*  Rear-Admiral  Greer  to  the  author. 


1861.  THE  SAN  JACINTO-TRENT  AFFAIR.  171 

were  transferred  to  the  San  Jacinto.  The  affair  was 
managed  so  cleverly  by  Lieutenant  Fairfax  that  the 
commander  of  the  Trent  forgot  to  throw  his  ship  as  a 
prize  on  the  hands  of  Captain  Wilkes — a  neglect  for 
which  the  Admiralty  and  the  Southerners  expressed 
much  disappointment,  as  it  undoubtedly  would  have 
involved  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  in  war. 
The  Trent  proceeded  on  her  way  to  England,  and  Cap- 
tain Wilkes  made  for  the  United  States  with  his  pris- 
oners, who  after  some  delay  were  placed  in  a  fort  near 
Boston.  The  news  of  this  proceeding  aroused  great 
excitement  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe, 
and  nearly  caused  a  war  with  England.  France  de- 
nounced the  act  and  assumed  a  threatening  attitude. 
After  the  excitement  had  subsided  the  Government 
disavowed  the  act  of  Captain  Wilkes  and  released  the 
commissioners,  who,  on  January  1,  1862,  sailed  for 
England. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  when  the  sailing  frigate 
Santee,  Captain  Henry  Eagle,  was  off  Galveston,  Tex- 
as, Lieutenant  James  E.  Jouett  volunteered  to  run 
into  the  harbor  and  destroy  the  steamer  General 
Rusk,  which  was  being  fitted  by  the  Confederates  as  a 
war  vessel,  and  the  schooner  Royal  Yacht,  mounting 
one  32-pound  gun.  Leaving  the  Santee  at  11.40  P.  M. 
that  night,  with  forty  men  in  the  first  and  second 
launches,  Lieutenant  Jouett  pulled  boldly  into  the 
harbor  and  made  for  the  General  Rusk,  then  lying  at 
a  wharf  about  seven  miles  from  the  frigate.  Pass- 
ing the  Royal  Yacht,  Lieutenant  Jouett  had  almost 
reached  the  General  Rusk  when  his  boat  grounded 
and  was  run  into  by  the  second  launch,  the  noise  of 
the  collision  discovering  the  party  to  the  Confederates, 
who  immediately  opened  fire,  and  several  steamers 
started  out  in  pursuit.  Seeing  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  carry  the  General  Rusk  now  that  her  people 
were  aroused,  Lieutenant  Jouett  determined  to  board 
the  Royal  Yacht. 


172  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861. 

Orders  were  given  for  the  "first  launch  to  board  on 
the  starboard  beam  and  the  second  launch  to  board  on 
the  starboard  bow."1  While  yet  two  hundred  yards 
from  the  Royal  Yacht  the  launches  were  hailed  twice, 
but,  paying  no  attention  to  them,  the  boats  dashed 
forward.  Just  as  the  first  launch  ran  alongside,  Wil- 
liam W.  Carter,  the  gunner,  fired  the  12-pound  howitzer, 
the  shell  crashing  through  the  schooner's  side  at  the 
water  line.  The  recoil  of  the  gun,  however,  gave  the 
launch  stern-board,  leaving  Carter,  who  had  leaped 
upon  the  schooner's  deck,  unsupported.  By  a  great 
effort  the  launch  was  brought  alongside  again,  but  just 
as  Lieutenant  Jouett  had  boarded  he  was  dangerously 
wounded  in  the  arm  and  lung  by  a  sword  bayonet 
fastened  to  a  pole  held  by  a  Confederate.  Drawing 
the  blade  from  his  side,  Jouett  felled  his  assailant  with 
it,  and  rushed  to  the  aid  of  Carter.  Twice  during  the 
desperate  struggle  in  the  schooner  the  retreat  was 
sounded  and  the  party  began  to  pull  back  without 
their  leader,  and  twice  the  first  launch  was  brought 
back.  The  crew  of  the  Royal  Yacht,  thirteen  in  all, 
was  finally  got  in  the  launch,  and  after  an  exhaust- 
ing pull  and  several  narrow  escapes  they  were  safely 
placed  aboard  the  Santee.  In  this  handsome  affair 
the  Nationalists  had  one  man  killed,  two  officers  and 
six  men  wounded — two  of  them  mortally.  The  Royal 
Yacht  was  destroyed,  but  the  loss  of  the  enemy  is  not 
definitely  known. 

One  of  the  first  difficulties  to  be  overcome  by  our 
naval  administration  in  the  civil  war  was  that  of  sup- 
plying the  blockading  ships  with  fresh  provisions,  ice, 
medical  stores,  and  the  transportation  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  northward.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  mo- 
notony of  the  blockade  service,  especially  off  the  fever- 
stricken  coasts  of  the  Gulf  States.  Long  spells  of  foggy 
weather  kept  the  vessels  in  a  damp  and  unhealthy  con- 
dition,  which,  together  with  the  difficulty  of  getting 

1  Rear-Admiral  Jouett  to  the  author. 


1861-1865.       GREEN  CAPTURES  THE  ALVARADO.  173 

fresh  meat  and  vegetables,  had  a  most  depressing  effect 
on  the  men.  Early  in  the  war  the  Government  secured 
two  small  steamers,  which  were  rechristened  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  and  kept  them  constantly 
employed  throughout  the  war  as  messengers  from  the 
Northern  ports  to  the  several  blockading  squadrons. 
The  Rhode  Island  was  commanded  (1861-1865)  by  Com- 
mander Stephen  Decatur  Trenchard,  afterward  Rear- 
Admiral.  In  the  course  of  the  war  she  steamed  fifty- 
six  thousand  two  hundred  miles. 

The  value  of  this  service  is  touchingly  illustrated 
by  Flag-Officer  James  S.  Lardner,  when  he  wrote  to 
Trenchard  at  Key  West,  October  6, 1861 :  "  Many  thanks 
for  your  kind  note  and  handsome  present  of  fruit,  most 
acceptable  in  these  scorching  times.  I  regret  extremely 
that  the  fever  prevents  me  from  having  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  you.  .  .  .  With  the  present  weather  there  is  no 
danger  of  new  cases.  .  .  .  There  has  been  only  one 
death  in  the  last  ten  days." '  4k  Only  one  death  "  tells 
the  story  of  their  sufferings. 

Besides  having  rooms  fitted  for  carrying  ice,  special 
luxuries  not  allowed  in  general  rations,  these  steamers 
were  fitted  with  conveniences  for  taking  North  the  offi- 
cers' wash.  The  paymaster  for  the  entire  fleet  also  took 
up  his  quarters  in  these  steamers.  The  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut  were  fitted  with  heavy  guns  and  per- 
formed service  as  gunboats ;  in  fact,  toward  the  close 
of  the  war  the  former  was  relieved  of  supply  duty  and 
ordered  to  cruise  in  the  West  Indies. 

Early  in  August,  1861,  Commander  Charles  Green, 
of  the  sailing  sloop  of  war  Jamestown,  had  an  exciting 
chase  after  a  blockade  runner  off  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Mary's.  The  stranger  was  discovered  in  the  morning. 
Green  promptly  gave  chase,  and  in  a  moment  both 
vessels  were  under  full  sail.  Finding  that  he  could 
not  escape,  the  Confederate  commander  ran  his  ship 
aground,  when  a  party  of  soldiers  hastened  to  the  shore 

1  Private  letter  from  Lardner  to  Trenchard. 


1Y4  BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES.  1861-1862. 

to  assist.  Green  sent  his  boats  to  take  possession,  the 
Confederates  opening  tire  with  musketry  and  artillery. 
They  also  endeavored  to  get  a  cannon  from  the  shore 
to  the  stranded  vessel,  but  the  National  boats  frustrated 
this,  and  in  a  few  minutes  gained  her  deck,  her  officers 
and  crew  escaping  on  the  other  side  in  boats.  The 
prize  was  the  sailing  ship  Alvarado,  of  and  for  Boston 
from  Cape  Town,  and  the  Nationalists  believed  that 
she  had  been  captured  by  the  enemy  or  that  her  mas- 
ter was  endeavoring  to  run  her  into  a  Southern  port. 
The  last  entry  made  in  the  log— evidently  written  by  a 
female — was,  "We  are  chased  by  a  man-of-war,  but 
I  think  we  will  escape  her  and  get  safely  into  St. 
Mary's."  As  it  was  impossible  to  get  her  afloat,  Green 
caused  the  prize  to  be  burned.  "It  was  a  gallant 
affair,"  wrote  Lieutenant  Trenchard,  who  arrived  at 
Fernandina  in  the  Rhode  Island  at  that  time,  "on  the 
part  of  the  Jamestown,  and  the  officers  and  crew  de- 
serve the  greatest  credit  for  the  daring  exploit.  They 
were  exposed  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  to  a 
heavy  fire  from  the  artillery  brought  to  bear  on  them 
from  the  shore."  l 

On  the  morning  of  July  4,  1862,  while  the  Rhode 
Island  was  about  seventeen  miles  southwest  of  Gal- 
veston,  engaged  in  her  duties  as  a  supply  vessel,  chase 
was  given  a  strange  vessel  close  inshore,  which  promptly 
ran  aground.  A  force  of  cavalry  and  infantry  ap- 
peared on  the  beach  to  assist  in  unloading  and  defend- 
ing her,  but  a  well-directed  fire  from  the  gunboat  put 
them  to  flight.  Three  boats,  commanded  by  Paymas- 
ter Douglass,  Ac  ting- Pay  master  Pennell,  and  Engineer 
McCutcheon,  of  the  Rhode  Island,  boarded  the  vessel, 
which  was  found  to  be  the  English  schooner  Richard 
O'Brien  from  Jamaica.  A  few  days  before  she  had 
been  warned  off  by  the  De  Soto.  Securing  a  part  of 
the  cargo  of  rum,  sugar  and  drugs,  the  Nationalists 
destroyed  the  prize  and  returned  to  the  Rhode  Island. 

1  Private  Journal  of  Rear- Admiral  Trenchard. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HATTEBAS   AND   PORT  ROYAL. 

IN  keeping  with  his  determination  to  repossess  the 
United  States  of  all  the  forts,  arsenals  and  harbors  that 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates,  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  convened  a  board  of  officers  for  the  pur- 
pose of  examining  the  coast  defenses  and  deciding 
upon  a  comprehensive  plan  of  operation.  This  board, 
consisting  of  Captain  Samuel  Francis  Dupont  and  Cap- 
tain Charles  H.  Davis,  of  the  navy,  Major  John  Gr.  Bar- 
nard, of  the  army,  and  Professor  Alexander  D.  Bache, 
of  the  Coast  Survey,  met  in  June,  1861,  and  after  a 
careful  examination  into  the  topographical  and  hydro- 
graphical  peculiarities  of  the  Southern  ports,  their  de- 
fenses and  their  importance  to  the  cause,  a  well-ad- 
justed plan  of  attack  was  laid  before  the  President. 
The  primary  object  of  this  scheme  was  the  interruption 
of  all  communication  between  the  Southern  States  and 
their  foreign  sympathizers.  From  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  Grande  to  Chesapeake  Bay  the  coast  is  indented 
with  many  safe  harbors,  the  defenses  of  which  were 
mostly  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  while  places  like 
Pamlico  Sound  and  Port  Royal  had  so  many  and  such 
intricate  approaches  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
prevent  ingress  or  egress  of  blockade-runners.  From 
the  25th  of  June  to  the  4th  of  August  Confederate 
cruisers  brought  into  Hatteras  Inlet  sixteen  prizes. 

The  first  of  the  series  of  attacks  proposed  by  the 
board  was  directed  against  the  forts  that  commanded 
the  main  entrance  to  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  Sounds. 
The  rivers  Neuse,  Roanoke,  Pamlico  and  Chowan,  reach- 

175 


176  HATTERAS  AND   PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

ing  far  into  the  interior,  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal,  con- 
necting Albemarle  Sound  with  Norfolk,  and  the  sev- 
eral inlets  from  the  ocean  afforded  every  convenience 
to  the  light-draught  British  blockade-runners,  which 
were  constructed  expressly  to  navigate  these  shoal 
waters,  bringing  in  rifles,  ammunition,  heavy  guns, 
iron  plates  and  military  stores,  and  taking  out  cotton 
for  English  manufacturers.  Hatteras  Inlet,  the  main 
entrance  to  these  waters,  was  strongly  guarded  by  for- 
tifications, so  that  a  squadron  would  be  unable  to  fol- 
low a  blockade-runner  into  the  sound,  while  the  lesser 
inlets  were  closed  to  the  heavy  vessels  by  shoals  and 
bars.  The  fortifications  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  built  by  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  and  constructed  with  consider- 
able skill,  consisted  of  Fort  Hatteras  and  Fort  Clark, 
on  the  southern  end  of  Hatteras  Island,  a  barren  strip 
of  land  forty  miles  long  and  about  half  a  mile  wide. 
Fort  Hatteras,  an  earthwork  covering  about  an  acre 
and  a  half  of  ground,  with  a  bombproof  chamber, 
mounting  twenty-five  guns,1  commanded  the  inlet 
proper,  while  Fort  Clark,  a  redoubt  with  five  32-pound 
guns,  commanded  the  approach  from  the  sea. 

On  the  26th  of  August  a  fleet  of  war  vessels  and 
transports  under  the  command  of  Flag-Officer  Silas 
H.  Stringham,  with  nearly  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
troops  under  the  command  of  Major- General  Ben- 
jamin F.  Butler,  together  with  some  schooners  and 
surfboats  to  be  used  in  landing,  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads.  The  vessels  were  the  steam  frigates  Minnesota 
(flagship),  two  10-inch,  twenty-eight  9-inch,  fourteen 
8-inch,  two  12-pound  guns,  Captain  Gershom  Jaques 
Van  Brunt ;  the  steam  frigate  Wafoash,  two  10-inch, 
twenty-eight  9-inch,  fourteen  8-inch,  two  12-pound 
guns,  Captain  Samuel  Mercer ;  the  sloop  of  war  Cum- 
berland, twenty  9-inch,  four  24-pound  guns,  Captain 
John  Marston  ;  the  sloop  of  war  Susquehanna,  fifteen 

1  Scharf's  History  of  the  Confederate  Navy,  p.  370. 


1861.  SOUNDS  OP  NORTH  CAROLINA.  177 

8-inch,  one  24-pound,  two  12-pound  guns,  Captain  John 
S.  Chauncey ;  the  sloop  of  war  Pawnee,  eight  9-inch, 
two  12-pound  guns,  Commander  Stephen  Clegg  Rowan ; 
the  steamer  Monticello,  six  8-inch  guns,  Commander 
John  P.  Gilliss  ;  the  steamer  Harriet  Lane,  five  guns, 
Captain  John  Faunce ;  the  transports  Adelaide,  Com- 
mander Henry  S.  Stellwagen ;  George  Peabody,  Lieu- 
tenant Reigart  B.  Lowry  ;  and  Fanny,  Lieutenant 
Pierce  Crosby.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day 
these  vessels  rounded  Hatteras  Lighthouse  and  an- 
chored. From  this  point  to  Hatteras  Inlet,  thirteen 
miles,  the  surf  rolls  on  the  beach  with  great  violence, 
making  it  exceedingly  dangerous  for  boats  to  land,  and 
in  view  of  this  difficulty  the  expedition  had  been  pro- 
vided with  iron  surfboats,  which  were  to  ply  between 
the  land  and  two  schooners  anchored  just  outside  the 
breakers.  At  6.40  A.  M.,  August  28th,  the  Pawnee, 
the  Harriet  Lane  and  the  Monticello  ran  close  inshore 
at  the  point  selected  for  landing— about  two  and  a  half 
miles  above  the  forts — so  as  to  cover  the  debarkation 
of  the  troops.  After  three  hundred  and  fifteen  men 
had  been  placed  ashore  the  increasing  surf  made  it  im- 
possible for  the  remainder  to  land.  Persisting  in  their 
efforts  to  get  more  men  ashore,  the  surfboats  were 
violently  hurled  on  the  beach  and  destroyed,  while  a 
boat  from  the  Pawnee,  in  endeavoring  to  make  a  sec- 
ond landing,  was  swamped  and  its  crew  narrowly  es- 
caped drowning.  The  men  ashore  were  thus  left  with- 
out provisions  or  water  r.nd  with  only  two  howitzers  for 
their  protection,  and  most  of  the  ammunition  had  been 
made  useless  by  water.  To  make  their  position  more 
critical,  the  threatening  weather  compelled  the  gun- 
boats to  stand  offshore,  where  they  were  out  of  range. 

.  In  the  mean  time  the  Minnesota,  the  Wabasli,  the 
Cumberland  and  the  Susquehanna  approached  Fort 
Clark,  and  at  10  A.  M.  they  opened  a  heavy  fire.  This 
was  the  first  real  test  in  this  war  of  the  efficacy  of 
wooden  ships  against  earthworks,  and  the  result  was  a 

57 


178  HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

matter  of  widely  differing  speculation  on  the  part  of 
the  officers.  Captain  Stringham,  instead  of  anchoring 
his  ships  so  that  the  enemy  could  acquire  the  range, 
kept  them  in  constant  motion,  passing  and  repassing 
the  batteries  at  varying  distances,  so  that  each  shot 
from  the  fort  was  only  a  test  of  the  range,  and  the  Con- 
federate gunners  were  compelled  to  fire  at  a  moving 
target.  The  great  success  of  this  plan  caused  National 
commanders  to  imitate  it  in  several  instances  afterward 
in  the  war.  The  shot  from  the  fort  rarely  struck,  while 
shells  from  the  ships  speedily  drove  the  gunners  to 
shelter.  By  12.25  P.  M.  the  enemy's  flag  was  carried 
away,  and  the  gunners  were  observed  running  toward 
Fort  Hatteras  or  leaving  the  shore  in  boats.  Signal 
was  now  made  in  the  vessels  to  cease  firing,  and  at 
2  P.  M.  Fort  Clark  was  occupied  by  the  troops  who  had 
been  landed  early  in  the  day. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Monticello  was 
ordered  to  push  into  the  inlet,  as  it  was  thought  that 
the  enemy  had  abandoned  both  forts.  Carefully  feeling 
her  way  among  the  breakers,  the  little  gunboat  con- 
tinued on  her  tortuous  course,  although  frequently 
grounding,  in  hopes  of  getting  into  deeper  water  in  the 
sound  beyond,  and  when  she  turned  the  spithead  where 
there  was  so  little  water  that  she  could  not  proceed, 
Fort  Hatteras  opened  on  her.  Commander  Gilliss 
promptly  responded,  but  for  fifteen  minutes  the  gun- 
boat was  in  a  most  perilous  position,  and  had  not  the 
larger  ships  immediately  reopened  their  broadsides  and 
silenced  the  enemy  she  would  have  been  destroyed. 
As  it  was,  she  was  struck  five  times  by  8-inch  shells, 
once  amidship  on  the  port  side,  the  shot  lodging  in  a 
knee.  Another  shell  on  the  same  side  struck  a  davit, 
and  drove  fragments  of  both  the  shell  and  the  davit 
through  the  armory,  pantry  and  galley.  A  third  shot 
carried  away  part  of  the  fore-topsail  yard,  another  en- 
tered the  starboard  bow  and  lodged  in  the  knee  at  the 
forward  end  of  the  shell  locker,  and  a  fifth  shot  entered 


1861.  NARROW  ESCAPE  OF  THE  MONTICELLO. 


179 


the  starboard  side  amidships,  passed  across  the  berth 
deck,  went  through  paint  locker  and  bulkhead,  crossed 
the  fire  room  and  landed  in  the  port  coal  bunker,  rip- 


Albemarle  and  Pamlico  Sounds. 


ping  up  the  deck  in  the  gangway  over  it.  After  the 
Monticello  had  escaped  from  this  tight  place,  the  can- 
nonading from  the  National  ships  was  renewed  with 


180  HATTERAS  AND   PORT  ROYAL.  18G1. 

great  effect  until  6.15  p.  M.,  when  the  signal  to  haul  off 
was  given,  and  the  squadron  was  made  snug  for  the 
night,  the  Pawnee,  the  Monticello  and  the  Harriet 
Lane  running  close  inshore  so  as  to  protect  the  troops 
that  had  been  landed. 

On  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Clark  that  morning 
the  troops  who  had  landed  early  in  the  day  took  pos- 
session of  the  work  ;  but  owing  to  its  proximity  to  Fort 
Hatteras  shells  from  the  squadron  fell  among  them,  and, 
finding  their  position  dangerous,  they  abandoned  the 
fort.  Returning  to  the  place  where  they  had  landed, 
they  made  preparations  for  passing  the  night  and  re- 
pelling an  attack  which  they  had  every  reason  to  ex- 
pect would  be  made  upon  them.  They  had  been  com- 
pelled to  go  through  the  severe  work  of  the  day  without 
food  or  water,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  sheep 
and  geese  which  they  captured  and  cooked  on  swords 
and  bayonets,  they  had  nothing  to  eat  until  the  follow- 
ing day.  To  make  their  lot  even  more  miserable,  it 
began  to  rain,  and  as  they  were  destitute  of  tents  or 
shelter  of  any  kind  they  were  compelled  to  lie  out  on 
the  drenched  sands.  In  the  night  the  enemy  was  re- 
enforced  by  the  arrival  of  a  regiment  and  supplies  from 
New  Berne,  but  fortunately  the  Confederates  were  too 
busy  repairing  the  damages  of  the  bombardment,  and  in 
making  preparations  for  a  desperate  resistance  on  the 
morrow,  to  give  any  attention  to  the  stranded  troops. 

At  half  past  five  on  the  following  morning,  August 
29th,  the  squadron  prepared  to  renew  the  bombard- 
ment of  Fort  Hatteras,  in  which  work  the  Confederates 
had  now  concentrated  all  their  forces.  At  8  A.  M.  the 
SnsqueTianna  opened  fire,  shortly  followed  by  the 
Minnesota,  the  Wdbash  and  the  Cumberland.  In 
this  attack  fifteen- second  fuses  were  used,  and  so  ac- 
curate and  rapid  was  the  firing  that  three  shells  some- 
times exploded  within  the  fort  about  the  same  instant. 
"The  shower  of  shell  in  half  an  hour  became  literally 
tremendous,  falling  into  and  immediately  around  the 


1861.  BOMBARDMENT  OF  FORT  HATTERAS.  131 

works  not  less,  on  an  average,  than  ten  each  minute, 
and,  the  sea  being  smooth,  the  firing  was  remarkably 
accurate.  One  of  the  officers  counted  twenty-eight 
shells,  and  several  others  counted  twenty  as  falling  in 
a  minute."1  No  men  could  long  stand  such  a  terrible 
downfall  of  iron  as  that.  The  Confederate  gunners 
were  soon  driven  from  their  stations,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  and  commands  of  their  officers,  rushed 
to  the  bombproof  chamber  and  filled  it  to  its  utmost 
capacity,  while  those  who  could  not  get  in  sought 
shelter  in  other  parts  of  the  fort.  When  three  hun- 
dred men  were  thus  closely  packed  together  in  the 
bombproof  chamber,  a  huge  shell  entered  through  the 
ventilator  and  landed  among  them.  A  fearful  panic 
ensued.  The  dark  chamber  was  filled  with  smoke  and 
dust,  while  each  man  was  struggling  to  get  out  of  the 
narrow  doorway  before  the  explosion.  Fortunately  the 
fuse  wpnt  out,  but  the  alarm  was  given  that  the  place 
was  on  fire,  and  the  magazine,  separated  only  by  a  thin 
partition,  wa^  in  imminent  danger  of  exploding.  The 
probability  of  being  blown  to  atoms  in  no  way  tended 
to  abate  the  panic,  and  it  was  not  until  most  of  the 
men  had  gained  the  open  air  that  they  realized  that 
immediate  danger  had  passed. 

Bat  the  garrison  had  escaped  only  to  be  exposed 
again  to  the  merciless  shells  that  fell  around  them. 
Shortly  afterward  another  exploded  over  the  maga- 
zine, threatening  to  ignite  it.  Seeing  that  a  shot 
would  surely  pierce  the  powder  mine  in  a  short  time, 
while  it  was  impossible  to  reply  with  a  single  gun, 
the  commander  called  a  council  of  the  officers  at  10.45 
A.  M.,  and  a  few  minutes  after  eleven  o'clock  the 
white  flag  was  raised.  The  squadron  immediately 
ceased  firing,  while  troops  marched  up  and  took 
possession.  Several  Confederate  gunboats,  which  had 
been  watching  the  bombardment  from  the  sound, 

1  Scharf's  History  of  the  Confederate  Navy,  p.  373. 


182  HATTERAS  AND   PORT   ROYAL.  186L 

waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  take  part  in  the  fight, 
now  fled.  Six  hundred  and  fifteen  prisoners,  including 
their  commander,  Captain  Samuel  Barron,  were  uncon- 
ditionally surrendered.  The  enemy  had  four  killed 
and  about  twenty-five  wounded,  while  the  National 
forces  escaped  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  and  sustained 
no  damage  in  their  ships.  The  prisoners  were  taken 
to  New  York  in  the  Minnesota  and  confined  on  Gov- 
ernor's Island,  while  a  garrison  under  Colonel  Rush 
Christopher  Hawkins  was  placed  in  the  fort.  All  the 
vessels  of  the  squadron  made  for  different  points,  ex- 
cepting the  Pawnee,  the  Montlcello  and  the  Fanny. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant,  successful  and  clean- 
cut  enterprises  ever  undertaken  by  the  United  States 
navy.  The  style  in  which  Captain  Stringham  received 
the  troops  on  board  and  sailed  away  on  the  same  day, 
the  wonderful  accuracy  of  the  squadron's  fire,  and  the 
capture  of  over  six  hundred  men  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  man  or  the  slightest  injury  to  his  squadron, 
were  most  creditable. 

Although  the  possession  of  the  forts  at  Hatteras  In- 
let gave  the  National  forces  control  of  the  main  en- 
trance to  these  inland  seas,  there  were  other  openings 
through  which  English  smuggling  craft  could  enter  and 
feed  the  rebellion.  One  of  these  inlets,  called  Ocra- 
coke,  was  twenty  miles  southwest  of  Cape  Hatteras, 
and  Beacon  Island,  commanding  the  passage,  was 
about  to  be  fortified  with  twenty  heavy  guns.  As  it 
was  of  great  importance  to  secure  or  destroy  these 
guns,  Lieutenant  James  G.  Maxwell,  in  the  steamer 
Fanny,  with  sixty-seven  men,  and  a  launch  from  the 
Pawnee  with  twenty-two  sailors  and  six  marines,  hav- 
ing a  12  pound  howitzer  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant Thomas  H.  Eastman,  was  sent  against  this  place. 
The  party  set  out  early  in  the  morning  of  September 
16th,  and  by  eleven  o'clock  was  about  two  miles  from 
Beacon  Island  when  the  Fanny  ran  aground.  While 
the  launch  was  sounding  for  the  channel,  a  sailboat 


1861.  LOSS  OF  THE  FANNY. 


183 


containing  two  men  was  captured,  and  by  their  aid  the 
Fanny  was  floated  off  and  piloted  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  fort.  This  proved  to  be  a  deserted  octag- 
onal earthwork  containing  four  shell  rooms  and  a 
bombproof  chamber  one  hundred  feet  square.  Lieu- 
tenant Maxwell  burned  the  gun-carriages,  while  the 
four  8-inch  shell  guns  and  the  fourteen  32-pounders 
were  made  useless  by  firing  solid  shot  at  the  trunnions. 
All  the  lumber  on  Beacon  Island  was  then  collected  in 
the  bombproof  chamber  and  fired,  also  a  storeship 
that  had  been  run  ashore  ;  and  while  this  was  being 
done  Lieutenant  Eastman  was  sent  to  Portsmouth  vil- 
lage, a  mile  distant,  with  the  launch,  where  four  8-inch 
guns  were  found  and  destroyed.  Having  thoroughly 
executed  his  orders,  Lieutenant  Maxwell  returned 
to  Fort  Hatteras  on  the  18th,  without  the  loss  of  a 
man. 

The  Confederates  next  fortified  Roanoke  Island,  so 
as  to  secure  Albemarle  Sound  and  an  inlet  to  the  north  ; 
and  with  a  view  of  frustrating  their  plans  the  steamers 
Geres  and  Putnam,  with  the  Twentieth  Indiana  Regi- 
ment, Colonel  W.  L.  Brown,  were  dispatched  Sep- 
tember 29th  to  occupy  the  northern  end  of  Hatteras 
island.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  this  force 
arrived  at  its  destination,  but  the  water  was  found  to 
be  so  shallow  that  even  light-draught  steamers  could 
not  get  nearer  than  three  miles  from  the  beach,  so 
that  the  men  were  obliged  to  debark  in  boats.  Two 
days  later,  October  1st,  the  steamer  Fanny  started  out 
with  arms,  ammunition,  clothing  and  provisions  for 
the  troops.  The  commander  of  the  Confederate  naval 
forces  in  these  waters,  Captain  William  F.  Lynch,  who 
led  the  Dead  Sea  exploring  expedition  in  1848,  learned 
of  the  approach  of  the  Fanny,  and  came  out  of  Croa- 
tan  Sound  with  the  Curlew,  armed  with  a  32-pound 
rifled  gun  and  a  12-pound  smooth-bore ;  the  Raleigh, 
two  6-pound  howitzers ;  and  the  JunalusJca,  one 
6-pound  gun.  The  Fanny  was  a  transport  carrying 


184  HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

two  light  rifled  guns.  Just  as  the  unsuspecting  Nation- 
alists were  anchoring  near  the  troops  and  preparing 
for  the  tedious  process  of  landing  their  cargo  on  the 
beach,  the  enemy's  flotilla,  headed  by  the  Curlew, 
came  in  sight.  As  soon  as  they  were  within  range 
they  opened  fire,  which  the  Union  gunboats  promptly 
returned,  at  the  same  time  hurrying  off  a  boat-load  of 
stores  to  the  land ;  but  before  the  boat  reached  the 
beach  the  enemy  had  come  to  close  quarters.  The 
Fanny  fired  nine  shot,  one  striking  one  of  the  gun- 
boats in  the  bow,  but  the  superior  weight  of  the  Con- 
federate guns  soon  compelled  her  to  surrender,  with 
her  valuable  cargo  and  forty-nine  men. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  the  Confederates  deter- 
mined to  capture  the  entire  Indiana  Regiment,  consist- 
ing of  six  hundred  men,  and  then  march  upon  Fort 
Hatteras.  Their  plan  was  to  land  troops  above  the  In- 
dianians,  and  also  a  large  body  of  soldiers  below,  so  as 
to  cut  off  their  retreat.  Having  captured  the  regiment, 
their  entire  force  was  to  embark  on  the  flotilla,  move 
swiftly  down  the  sound  and  attack  Fort  Hatteras  be- 
fore the  alarm  could  be  given.  On  the  4th  of  October, 
just  as  the  Confederate  troops  under  Colonel  A.  R. 
Wright  had  begun  this  movement,  and  when  Colonel 
Brown  was  preparing  for  a  desperate  defense,  orders 
were  received  from  Fort  Hatteras  for  the  National 
troops  to  retreat.  Accordingly  the  soldiers— who,  on 
account  of  the  loss  of  the  Fanny,  were  destitute  of 
stores— began  the  difficult  march  of  forty  miles  over 
marshes,  through  inlets  and  across  sand,  with  a  confi- 
dent enemy  in  hot  pursuit.  Observing  this  movement, 
the  second  division  of  the  Confederate  troops,  under 
Colonel  Shaw,  made  all  haste  down  the  sound  in  the 
gunboats,  hoping  to  land  and  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the 
Indianians  ;  and,  realizing  their  danger,  the  men  has- 
tened the  march  until  it  became  a  race  between  them 
and  the  steamers.  During  the  night  the  National 
forces  succeeded  in  passing  the  Confederates  before 


1861.  SHELLING  THE  ENEMY.  185 

they  could  land,  and  after  enduring  great  hardships 
they  reached  Hatteras  Lighthouse,  where  they  met  a 
relief  party  from  the  fort  under  Colonel  Hawkins.  In 
this  aifair  the  National  troops  had  forty-four  men 
taken  prisoners. 

Finding  that  the  Indianians  had  escaped  them,  the 
Confederates  turned  toward  the  northern  end  of  the 
island  to  pick  up  any  stragglers  that  might  have  eluded 
them  during  the  pursuit.  While  this  was  going  on, 
Lieutenant  Daniel  L.  Braine,  in  the  gunboat  Monti- 
cello^  which  was  coasting  along  the  seaward  side  of 
Hatteras  Island,  noticed  several  vessels  on  the  sound, 
and  a  regiment  of  soldiers  carrying  a  Confederate  flag 
marching  in  a  northerly  direction.  They  were  the 
Confederate  troops  retreating  after  the  unsuccessful 
pursuit  of  the  Indianians.  Lieutenant  Braine  promptly 
stood  close  inshore,  and  at  1.30  p.  M.  opened  a  heavy 
fire,  which  had  the  effect  of  hastening  the  Southern- 
ers' march,  for  they  rolled  up  their  flag,  broke  ranks 
and  ran  for  the  place  where  their  flotilla  was  await- 
ing them.  The  Monticello  easily  kept  up  with  them, 
and  as  they  were  confined  to  a  narrow  island  they 
were  constantly  exposed  to  her  fire.  When  they  ar- 
rived at  the  landing-place  they  sought  refuge  in  a 
clump  of  trees.  About  this  time  two  men  were  ob- 
served on  the  beach  signaling  the  Monticello.  A  boat 
was  sent  to  them,  and  in  attempting  to  swim  through 
the  breakers  one  of  them  was  drowned,  but  the  other 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  boat,  and  reported  himself 
as  a  private  of  the  Indiana  regiment  who  had  just  ef- 
fected his  escape.  He  directed  the  gunners  to  a  clump 
of  trees  in  which  a  number  of  Confederates  had  taken 
refuge,  and  a  few  shells  drove  them  from  shelter.  The 
enemy  had  now  been  followed  four  miles  along  the 
coast,  and,  as  most  of  them  had  gained  their  flotilla, 
the  Monticello,  at  5.25  P.  M  ,  returned  to  her  station. 

On  New  Year's  eve  Commander  Oliver  S.  Glisson, 
of  the  steamer  Mount  Vernon,  sent  a  detachment  of 


186  HATTERAS  AND  PORT   ROYAL.  1861. 

men  in  two  boats  to  destroy  a  lightship  that  was  an- 
chored in  fancied  security  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Cas- 
well.  This  vessel  formerly  had  been  stationed  off  Fry- 
ing-Pan  Shoal,  but  it  was  naw  armed  with  eight  guns 
as  an  additional  defense  to  the  fort.  The  boat  party 
boarded  the  lightship,  and  after  setting  her  on  fire  re- 
treated without  the  loss  of  a  man,  although  exposed  to 
a  heavy  fire  from  the  fort. 

The  first  point  along  the  Southern  seaboard  that  had 
been  suggested  for  occupation  was  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  National  forces.  The  second  and  equally  impor- 
tant object  to  be  gained  was  to  secure  a  safe  harbor, 
where  workshops  could  be  erected  and  vessels  put  in 
repair  and  supplied,  thus  avoiding  the  great  waste  of 
time  in  frequent  voyages  to  Northern  ports.  The  in- 
troduction of  steam  in  ships  of  war  made  a  convenient 
coaling-station  almost  a  necessity.  As  it  was,  the 
steamers  engaged  in  the  blockade  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board were  far  removed  from  a  base  of  supplies,  and  as 
only  a  limited  amount  of  coal  could  be  carried  in  each 
vessel,  much  time  was  lost  in  running  from  the  block- 
aded ports  to  coaling-stations  in  the  North.  Another 
difficulty  under  which  the  blockade  was  maintained 
was  the  frail  construction  of  many  of  the  blockading 
ships.  A  large  proportion  of  them  were  river  or  Sound 
steamers  chartered  for  the  emergency,  and,  having 
heavy  guns  mounted  on  them,  were  especially  liable 
to  strain  and  leakage  ;  consequently  they  were  contin- 
ually in  need  of  repairs,  which  could  not  be  effected 
at  sea,  and  when  they  were  obliged  to  run  several 
hundred  miles  to  a  Northern  port  the  blockade  was 
weakened.  The  introduction  of  iron  ships,  or  ships 
plated  with  that  material,  being  somewhat  of  an  ex- 
periment, gave  rise  to  innumerable  little  alterations 
in  the  hull,  armament  or  machinery,  which,  owing  to 
the  peculiar  difficulties  of  working  this  metal,  could 
be  done  only  by  extensive  machinery  in  some  friendly 
port. 


1861.  DEPARTURE  OF  THE   GREAT  FLEET.  187 

These  considerations  determined  the  Government 
upon  securing  a  safe  harbor  on  the  Southern  coast, 
where  the  largest  vessels  could  enter.  Some  of  the 
ports  suggested  were  Fernandina,  Brunswick,  Port 
Royal,  and  Bull's  Bay.  On  the  29th  of  October  the 
fleet  destined  for  this  purpose  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads,  under  the  command  of  Flag-Officer  Samuel 
Francis  Dupont,  with  sealed  orders,  and,  after  some 
delay  outside  the  harbor  in  forming  the  vessels  in  the 
shape  of  an  inverted  V,  it  stood  down  the  coast. 
Aboard  the  transports  were  twelve  thousand  troops, 
under  the  command  of  General  Thomas  W.  Sherman. 
The  fleet  consisted  of  the  steam  frigate  Wabash,  flag- 
ship, two  10-inch,  twenty-eight  9-inch,  fourteen  8-inch, 
two  12-pound  guns,  Commander  Christopher  Raymond 
Perry  Rodgers ;  the  steam  sloops  of  war  MoJtican,  two 
11-inch,  four  32-pound,  one  12-pound  guns,  Commander 
S.  W.  Godon ;  Seminole,  one  11-inch,  four  32-pound 
guns,  Commander  John  P.  Gilliss ;  Pawnee,  eight 
9-inch,  two  12-pound  guns,  Lieutenant  Robert  H.  \Vy- 
man ;  the  sailing  sloop  of  war  Vandalia,  four  8-inch, 
sixteen  32- pound,  one  12-pound  guns,  Commander 
Francis  S.  Haggerty ;  the  gunboats  Augusta,  Com- 
mander Enoch  G.  Parrott ;  Pocahontas,  Commander 
Percival  Dray  ton ;  Bienmlle,  Commander  Charles 
Steedman  ;  Vnadilla,  Lieutenant  Napoleon  Collins ;  Ot- 
tawa, Lieutenant  Thomas  Holdup  Stevens ;  Pembina, 
Lieutenant  John  P.  Bankhead;  Seneca,  Lieutenant 
Daniel  Ammen ;  Curlew,  Acting-Lieutenant  Pendleton 
G.  Watmongh  ;  Penguin,  Acting- Lieutenant  Thomas 
A.  Budd;  the  R.  B.  Forbes,  Lieutenant  Henry  S. 
Newcomb ;  the  Isaac  Smith,  Lieutenant  James  W.  A 
Nicholson. 

On  the  day  before  this  fleet  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads  twenty-five  storeships  and  coalers  had  sailed 
under  the  escort  of  the  Vandalia.  With  a  view  of 
concealing  the  destination  of  the  fleet,  these  vessels 
were  ordered,  in  case  they  became  separated,  to  ren- 


188  HATTERAS  AND   PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

dezvous  off  Savannah.  The  fleet,  after  leaving  Hamp- 
ton Roads,  met  with  fair  weather  until  about  noon 
of  November  1st.  Off  Cape  Hatteras  a  dull  leaden 
sky  and  a  fresh  southeast  wind  gave  warning  of  a 
storm.  As  the  afternoon  wore  on,  the  wind  increased 
to  a  steady  gale,  and  Captain  Dupont  made  signal  for 
every  vessel  to  take  care  of  itself.  When  night  fell  on 
the  angry  sea  the  vessels  scattered  far  and  wide,  and 
occasionally  a  few  of  them  could  be  seen  staggering 
under  storm  sails.  A  peculiar  feature  of  the  gale  on 
this  night  was  the  phosphorescent  animalcule  which 
lighted  up  the  frothing  waves  with  strange  brilliancy. 
Through  the  long  watches  of  that  anxious  night  the  com- 
manders of  the  vessels  kept  the  deck,  while  huge  drops 
of  rain,  driven  by  the  fierce  wind,  struck  their  faces 
with  the  sting  of  pebbles.  It  was  fully  expected  that 
many  of  the  vessels  would  founder,  for,  aside  from  the 
regular  war  vessels  and  the  gunboats,  few  of  the  craft 
were  constructed  for  an  ocean  voyage,  many  of  the 
transports  being  New  York  ferryboats.  When  day 
broke  on  November  2d,  only  one  gunboat  could  be 
descried  from  the  masthead  of  the  flagship,  and  the 
greatest  apprehensions  were  felt  for  the  safety  of  the 
fleet. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3d  the  Seneca  was  dis- 
patched to  the  blockading  fleet  off  Charleston,  with 
instructions  to  Captain  James  L.  Lardner,  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  to  detain  the  vessels  of  the  squadron  de- 
tailed for  the  Port  Royal  expedition  off  Charleston 
until  nightfall,  so  as  to  deceive  the  enemy  as  to  the 
destination  of  the  fleet.  When  the  Seneca  was  sighted 
off  Charleston  Fort  Sumter  fired  an  alarm  gun,  which 
was  repeated  on  shore,  the  Confederates  evidently 
believing  her  to  be  the  advance  guard  of  the  fleet 
that  was  to  attack  their  city.  But  these  efforts  to 
conceal  the  destination  of  the  fleet  were  unnecessary, 
for  a  few  hours  after  it  left  Hampton  Roads  the 
following  telegram  was  sent  to  Governor  Pickens, 


1861.  A   LIVELY  RECONNOISANCE.  189 

of  South  Carolina,  and  to  Generals  Dray  ton  and  Rip- 
ley: 

"RICHMOND,  November  1,  1861. 

"  I  have  just  received  information,  which  I  consider  entirely  reliable, 
that  the  enemy's  expedition  is  intended  for  Port  Royal. 

"  J.  P.  BENJAMIN,  Acting  Secretary  of  War" 

The  Waba.sk  continued  on  her  way  to  Port  Royal, 
where,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  the  scattered  ves- 
sels began  to  heave  in  sight,  many  of  them  reporting 
narrow  escapes  from  foundering.  The  Governor  went 
down  on  the  3d.  She  had  on  board  six  hundred  and 
fifty  marines,  under  the  command  of  Major  John  G. 
Reynolds,  and  they  were  saved  only  by  the  greatest 
exertion  of  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  Sabine,  Captain 
Cadwalader  Ringgold,  and  the  Isaac  Smith.  In  spite 
of  every  effort,  however,  seven  men  were  lost.  In 
order  to  assist  the  Governor,  the  Isaac  Smith  was  com- 
pelled to  throw  overboard  all  her  guns  except  one  30- 
pounder.  The  army  transport  Peerless  also  went  down, 
but  her  crew  was  rescued  by  the  Mohican,  Lieutenant 
Henry  W.  Miller,  of  the  latter,  being  highly  compli- 
mented for  his  efforts  in  saving  the  drowning  men. 
Three  other  transports  also  failed  to  arrive  before  the 
attack  was  made  ;  they  were  the  Belmdere,  the  Union 
and  the  Osceola. 

On  arriving  off  Port  Royal,  Captain  Dupont  found 
that  the  usual  landmarks  for  determining  the  channel 
had  been  destroyed,  and  that  the  buoys  were  displaced, 
which  rendered  it  exceedingly  difficult  and  dangerous 
to  get  the  vessels  over  the  bar.  Under  Captains  Charles 
H.  Davis,  and  Boutelle  of  the  Coast  Survey,  in  the  Vix- 
en, accompanied  by  the  Ottawa,  the  Seneca,  the  Paw- 
nee, the  Pembina  and  the  Curlew,  the  sounding  party, 
although  at  times  subjected  to  a  heavy  fire,  rapidly 
discovered  the  channel  and  returned  the  buoys  to  their 
proper  places,  so  that  the  gunboats  and  transports  were 
brought  over  the  bar  without  accident.  The  three  gun- 
boats under  Commodore  Tattnall  were  observed  coming 


190  HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

down  to  engage.  As  Dupont's  flagship  was  not  in  sig- 
naling distance,  Lieutenant  Stevens,  then  the  senior 
officer  of  the  gunboats,  gave  the  order  for  chase.  The 
Confederate  vessels  were  driven  under  the  guns  of  the 
fort,  but  on  the  following  day  the  enemy's  flagship,  the 
Savannah,  probably  in  Tattnall's  absence,  came  within 
range  and  fired  on  the  gunboats  at  twenty-five  hundred 
yards.  A  single  shell  from  the  Seneca,  aimed  by  Lieu- 
tenant Ammen,  struck  the  Savannah  abaft  the  star- 
board wheelhouse,  and  had  the  fuse  not  failed  to  ignite 
the  Savannah  would  have  been  sent  to  the  bottom. 
As  it  was,  she  promptly  retreated.  Earlier  in  the 
morning  the  Ottawa,  under  Commander  John  Rodgers, 
with  Brigadier-General  Horatio  G.  Wright  aboard,  in 
company  with  the  Seneca,  the  Curlew  and  the  Isaac 
Smith,  made  a  reconnoisance  in  the  harbor,  exchanged 
a  few  shot  with  the  fort,  and  sustained  some  damage 
in  their  rigging.  Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
getting  the  Wabash  over  the  bar,  which  even  at  flood 
tide  allowed  only  two  feet  for  the  vessel's  keel,  but  on 
the  5th  of  November  she  was  taken  across  and  an- 
chored with  the  rest  of  the  fleet. 

Port  Royal  was  guarded  by  two  formidable  earth- 
works, one  at  Hilton  Head,  called  Fort  Walker,  after- 
ward named  Fort  Welles,  and  the  other,  two  and  a 
half  miles  across  the  Roads,  at  Bay  Point,  called 
Fort  Beauregard,  afterward  called  Fort  Seward.  Fort 
Walker  had  two  6-inch  rifled  guns,  twelve  32-pound- 
ers,  one  10-inch  and  one  8-inch  columbiad,  three  7- inch 
seacoast  howitzers,  one  8-inch  howitzer,  and  two  12- 
pounders ;  in  all,  twenty-two  guns.  Fort  Beauregard 
proper  was  armed  with  five  32-pounders,  one  10-inch 
and  one  8-inch  columbiad,  one  6-inch  rifled  gun,  and 
five  42-pound  seacoast  guns.  In  some  outworks  flank- 
ing the  main  work,  commanding  the  land  approaches 
as  well  as  the  channel  near  by,  were  three  32-pounders, 
two  24-pounders  and  two  6-inch  Spanish  guns  ;  in  all, 
twenty  guns.  At  the  farther  end  of  Hilton  Head  and 


1861. 


DUPONT'S  PLAN  OF  BATTLE. 


191 


near  the  wharf  were  one  10-inch  columbiad,  two  5^-inch 
rifled  guns,  and  two  12-pound  howitzers.  The  com- 
mander of  these  forts  was  Thomas  F.  Dray  ton,  a  brother 
of  Commander  Percival  Drayton,  of  the  Pocohontas. 
The  Confederate  naval  force,  which  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  most  dashing  and  successful  officers  in  the  old 


Plan  of  battle  at  Port  Royal. 

navy,  consisted  of  the  steamer  Savannah,  Lieutenant 
John  N".  Maffit;  the  Samson,  Lieutenant  J.  S.  Ken- 
nard  ;  and  the  Jtesolute,  Lieutenant  J.  Pembroke  Jones, 
each  mounting  two  32-pounders. 

Having  collected  his  forces  within  the  bar,  Captain 
Dupont  summoned  the  commanders  aboard  the  flag- 
ship and  gave  them  instructions  for  the  attack.  His 


192  HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 

orders  were  for  the  WabasTi  to  lead  the  line  of  battle, 
to  be  followed  by  the  Susquehanna,  the  Mohican,  the 
Seminole,  the  Pawnee,  the  Unadilla,  the  Ottawa,  the 
Pembina  and  the  Vandalia,  the  last  being  towed  by 
the  steamer  Isaac  Smith.  These  vessels  were  to  pass 
up  the  Roads  in  the  order  given,  on  the  Bay  Point 
side,  delivering  their  port  broadsides  on  Fort  Walker, 
and  their  starboard  guns,  if  possible,  on  Fort  Beaure- 
gard,  until  they  had  reached  a  point  two  miles  above 
the  fort,  where  they  were  to  turn  and  come  down  the 
Roads  in  the  same  order  on  the  Fort  Walker  side,  using 
their  bow  guns  so  as  to  enfilade  that  work  as  they  ap- 
proached, their  starboard  guns  when  they  came  abreast 
and  their  quarter  guns  as  they  drew  away.  Having 
completed  the  circuit,  the  line  was  to  repeat  this  ellipse 
manoeuvre,  until  the  forts  surrendered.  A  second  line, 
consisting  of  the  gunboats  Bienmlle,  Seneca,  Curlew, 
Penguin  and  Augusta,  was  to  flank  the  movements 
of  the  main  line  while  passing  up  the  Roads,  but  on 
reaching  the  first  turning-point,  two  miles  above  Fort 
Bean  regard,  it  was  to  remain  there  and  hold  the  ene- 
my's flotilla  in  check,  and  it  was  particularly  enjoined 
not  to  allow  them  to  attack  the  transports.  By  this 
admirable  arrangement  the  ships  were  kept  in  rapid 
and  constant  motion,  which  prevented  the  enemy  from 
obtaining  an  accurate  range. 

The  7th  of  November  dawned  bright  and  clear, 
with  scarcely  a  ripple  disturbing  the  broad  waters  of 
the  bay.  Early  in  the  morning  the  signal  was  given  to 
get  under  way,  and  the  vessels  dropped  into  their  pre- 
scribed positions.  At  9  A.  M.  the  signal  for  close  order 
was  shown,  and  the  imposing  lines  of  battle  advanced 
steadily  toward  the  enemy  at  the  rate  of  six  knots  an 
hour.  At  9.26  A.  M.  Fort  Walker  opened  with  her 
heavy  guns,  and  was  quickly  followed  by  her  sister 
fort,  but  the  shot  fell  short.  Soon  afterward  the  Wa- 
bash  opened  with  her  bow  guns,  which  were  promptly 
seconded  by  the  other  vessels  in  the  advancing  fleet. 


1861.  THAT  TERRIBLE  CIRCUIT  OF  FIRE.  193 

When  in  full  range  the  WabasTi  opened  her  formidable 
broadsides,  and  as  her  example  was  promptly  followed 
by  the  other  vessels  the  engagement  became  general. 
The  enemy's  flotilla  had  dropped  down  the  Roads 
and  fired  with  great  skill ;  but  as  the  National  ships 
majestically  swept  past  the  forts  and  came  to  the 
turning-point,  where  their  powerful  broadsides  came 
into  play,  the  Confederate  gunboats  fled  up  Skull 
Creek.  When  the  flanking  line  of  Dupont's  gunboats 
wheeled  off  from  the  main  line  to  take  a  position  north 
of  Fort  Walker,  so  as  to  open  an  enfilading  fire,  the 
Confederate  gunboats  came  out  again,  evidently  under 
the  impression  that  the  fleet  was  retreating,  but  the 
Seneca  soon  drove  them  up  the  creek.  While  the 
bombardment  was  in  progress  the  PocaTiontas,  which 
had  been  detained  by  the  storm,  joined  in  the  attack 
and  opened  an  enfilading  fire. 

The  WabasTi,  still  leading  the  unbroken  line,  now 
turned  down  the  Roads  toward  Hilton  Head.  As  the 
vessels  came  within  long  range  they  opened  a  most  de- 
structive enfilading  fire  with  their  bow  guns  ;  for  the 
Confederates,  not  expecting  an  attack  from  that  side, 
had  mounted  only  one  32-pounder  in  that  part  of  their 
works,  and  this  was  soon  shattered  by  round  shot.  At 
10.40  A.  M.  the  WabasTi  was  abreast  of  Fort  Walker, 
distant  not  more  than  eight  hundred  yards,  when  she 
delivered  a  broadside  with  great  effect,  at  which  time 
the  vessels  astern  of  her  were  still  enfilading  the  enemy 
with  their  pivot  guns.  The  Susquehanna  next  came 
abreast  of  Fort  Walker  and  discharged  her  heavy 
broadside,  and  by  this  time  the  WabasTi  had  again 
loaded  and  hurled  in  a  second  torrent  of  death- dealing 
missiles.  All  the  vessels  were  now  reloading  and  firing 
as  rapidly  as  possible  at  the  disconcerted  enemy,  and 
in  order  that  the  column  might  not  pass  the  forts  too 
rapidly  the  engines  were  slowly  reversed.  At  11  A.  M. 
the  WabasTi  reached  the  place  in  which  the  ellipse 
had  been  started,  and  now  again  turned  up  the  Roads. 

58 


194  HATTERAS  AND  PORT   ROYAL.  1861. 

Being  the  flagship,  she  received  the  largest  share  of 
the  enemy's  attention.  One  shell  passed  between  Cap- 
tain Dupont  and  Captain  Rodgers,  narrowly  missing 
each  of  them.  Fort  Beauregard  was  passed  in  the 
same  order  as  before,  and  received  a  heavy  fire  so  long 
as  the  ships  were  in  range.  By  11.20  A.  M.  the  WabasTi 
had  again  reached  the  northern  turning-point  of  the 
ellipse,  and  for  the  second  time  bore  down  to  engage 
Fort  Walker  at  close  quarters.  The  moment  the  bow 
guns  came  within  range  the  same  enfilading  fire  was 
opened  by  each  vessel  in  turn,  so  that  by  the  time  the 
Wabasli  and  the  Susquehanna  were  delivering  their 
broadsides  the  vessels  astern  were  pouring  in  a  destruc- 
tive cross  fire. 

In  this  circuit  Captain  Dupont  passed  three  hun- 
dred yards  nearer  to  Fort  Walker  than  at  the  first,  so 
as  to  destroy  the  range  which  the  enemy's  gunners 
had  secured  before  the  ships  had  passed  them  on  their 
first  circuit.  "At  half  past  eleven  o'clock,"  says  an 
eyewitness,  "the  WabasTi  and  her  consorts  drew  near 
to  Hilton  Head  again.  Occasionally  the  pivot  guns  of 
the  WabasTi  and  the  SusqueTianna  threw  a  shell  into 
the  battery,  but  the  grand  affair  was  yet  to  come.  At 
11.50  A.  M.  the  ships  were  again  enveloped  in  a  dense 
cloud  of  white  smoke,  and  a  few  seconds  later  the 
shells  were  bursting  in  the  battery  in  a  splendid  man- 
ner. The  sand  was  flying  in  every  direction,  and  it 
seemed  impossible  that  any  one  in  the  battery  could  be 
saved  from  death.  The  Confederates  now  worked  only 
two  guns,  but  I  will  give  them  the  credit  of  saying  that 
they  worked  them  beautifully."1  By  this  time  over 
two  hundred  shells  had  been  dropped  into  the  fort. 
Dr.  Buist,  the  surgeon  in  the  fort,  was  killed  by  a 
shell,  and  his  body  was  buried  by  the  falling  of  a  par- 
apet. Ten  minutes  after  twelve,  the  National  ships 
were  out  of  gunshot,  preparing  to  repeat  their  ellipse. 

1  Correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald. 


1861.  CAPTURE  OF   PORT   ROYAL.  195 

A  few  minutes  before  this  the  flag  at  Bay  Point  had 
been  lowered,  but  as  the  ships  passed  out  of  range  it 
was  rehoisted.  The  Wabask  now  for  the  third  time 
headed  northward  on  that  terrible  circle  of  fire,  and  at 
12.20  P.  M.  Bay  Point  opened  on  her,  but  was  silenced 
when  the  National  broadsides  came  into  play.  The 
flanking  gunboats  took  a  position  north  of  Fort  Walker, 
and,  being  within  six  hundred  yards,  kept  up  an  en- 
filading fire  that  "annoyed  and  damaged  us  excess- 
ively," as  General  Dray  ton  expressed  it.  These  vessels 
drifted  so  near  to  Fort  Walker  that  "the  enemy's 
sharpshooters,  concealed  in  depressions  of  the  shore, 
opened  a  heavy  fire  on  us,  to  which  we  replied  with 
our  24-pound  howitzers  loaded  with  canister."1 

The  transports  now  got  out  one  hundred  surfboats 
in  readiness  to  land  the  troops,  and  at  half  past  two 
o'clock  the  Wabash  again  got  under  way,  and  running 
close  to  the  batteries  fired  one  gun.  As  the  enemy  did 
not  reply,  it  was  believed  that  the  works  were  aban- 
doned. The  line  of  battle  accordingly  came  to  anchor, 
and  Commander  John  Rodgers  put  off  in  a  boat  with 
a  flag  of  truce.  With  some  degree  of  awe  the  entire 
fleet,  now  resting  on  its  guns,  watched  the  whale-boat 
pull  out  from  the  wing  of  the  huge  frigate  and  make 
its  way  like  a  cockleshell  toward  the  grim  and  silent 
fort.  Thousands  of  eyes  centered  on  the  little  boat 
with  increasing  interest  as  she  drew  nearer  the  shore. 
Her  keel  soon  grated  on  the  beach,  and  the  officers 
were  seen  to  jump  out,  approach  the  fort  and  enter, 
and  for  a  time  they  were  lost  to  view.  Then  Com- 
mander Rodgers  was  seen  scrambling  up  the  highest 
part  of  the  ramparts,  carrying  the  American  colors 
with  him  :  and  at  the  first  glimpse  of  the  beautiful 
ensign  the  long  suspense  gave  place  to  tremendous 
cheers  from  every  craft  in  the  fleet. 

Lieutenant  Daniel  Ammen,  of  the  Seneca,  landed 

1  Rear-Admiral  Stevens  to  the  author. 


196 


HATTERAS  AND  PORT  ROYAL.  1861. 


soon  afterward  with  thirty  armed  men  and  hoisted  the 
flag  over  a  small  frame  house  that  had  been  used  by 
the  enemy  as  headquarters.  On  abandoning  the  fort 
the  Confederates  had  planted  torpedoes  with  wires  at- 
tached to  them  in  different  parts  of  the  works,  and  one 
of  the  machines  was  placed  under  the  floor  of  this 
house.  Scarcely  had  Lieutenant  Ammen  and  his  men 
left  the  place  when  "a  dull  explosion  was  heard,  a 
cloud  of  smoke  went  up,  and  when  it  passed  away 
there  was  no  vestige  of  the  house."1  One  of  the  sea- 
men had  caught  his  foot  in  a  wire,  igniting  the  torpedo. 
The  man  was  knocked  senseless,  but  fortunately  no 
lives  were  lost.  By  sunset  it  was  discovered  that  Fort 
Beauregard  had  been  abandoned ;  and  on  the  follow- 
ing morning  the  Union  flag  was  waving  over  that  work 
also.  The  National  loss  in  this  affair  was  only  eight 
killed  and  twenty-three  wounded,  which  must  be  at- 
tributed to  the  masterly  manner  in  which  the  attack 
had  been  planned  and  carried  out  by  the  commander- 
in-chief.  The  enemy's  loss  was  eleven  killed,  forty- 
eight  wounded  and  four  missing.2  A  chart  of  the 
Southern  coast  was  found  in  General  Dray  ton's  head- 
quarters, on  which  were  indicated  in  red  ink  the  posi- 
tions of  Confederate  batteries.  This  was  of  great  as- 
sistance in  the  operations  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

An  eyewitness  describes  the  scene  in  Fort  Walker 
immediately  after  its  surrender  as  follows:  "On  the 
line  along  the  front  three  guns  were  dismounted  by  the 
enfilading  fire  of  our  ships.  One  carriage  had  been 
struck  by  a  large  shell  and  shivered  to  pieces,  dis- 
mounting the  heavy  gun  mounted  upon  it  and  send- 
ing the  splinters  flying  in  all  directions  with  terrific 
force.  Between  the  guns  and  the  foot  of  the  parapet 
was  a  large  pool  of  blood  mingled  with  brains,  frag- 
ments of  skull,  and  pieces  of  flesh  evidently  from  the 


1  Am  men's  Atlantic  Coast,  p.  29. 

8  Official  report  of  Brigadier-General  Drayton. 


1861.  A  SCENE  OP  DEVASTATION.  197 

face,  as  portions  of  whiskers  still  clung  to  it.  This 
shot  must  have  done  horrible  execution,  as  other  por- 
tions of  human  beings  were  found  all  around  it.  An- 
other carriage  to  the  right  was  broken  to  pieces,  and 
the  guns  on  the  water  front  were  rendered  useless  by 
the  enfilading  h're  from  the  gunboats  on  the  left  flank. 
Their  scorching  fire  of  shell,  which  swept  with  resist- 
less fury  and  deadly  effect  across  this  long  water  pond, 
where  the  enemy  had  placed  his  heaviest  metal  en  bar- 
bette without  taking  the  precaution  to  place  traverses 
between  the  guns,  did  as  much  as  anything  to  drive 
them  from  their  works.  The  fort  was  plowed  up  by 
shot  and  shell  so  badly  as  to  make  an  immediate  re- 
pair necessary.  All  the  houses  and  many  of  the  tents 
about  the  works  were  perforated  and  torn  by  flying 
shell,  and  hardly  a  light  of  glass  could  be  found  intact 
in  any  building.  The  trees  in  the  vicinity  showed 
marks  of  heavy  visitation.  Everything,  indeed,  was  in 
ruins." 


CHAPTER  III. 

PAMLICO   AND  ALBEMARLE   SOUNDS. 

ALTHOUGH  the  capture  of  Forts  Hatteras  and  Clark 
gave  the  National  forces  control  of  Hatteras  Inlet  and 
Pamlico  Sound,  yet  the  enemy  was  still  in  possession 
of  the  important  towns  of  New  Berne  and  Washing- 
ton, and  the  large  rivers  on  which  they  were  situ- 
ated, besides  holding  undisputed  sway  in  Albemarle 
Sound.  From  the  latter  place  light-draught  steamers 
passed  into  the  Atlantic  and  preyed  on  the  coastwise 
commerce.  Furthermore,  it  was  rumored  that  several 
ironclads  of  the  Merrimac  type  were  in  course  of  con- 
struction, and  would  prove  formidable  antagonists  to 
the  frail  wooden  vessels  that  composed  the  National 
fleet  in  these  waters.1  The  possession  of  Albemarle 
Sound  was  necessary  before  Norfolk  could  be  attacked 
from  the  rear,  or  any  attempt  made  against  the  Con- 
federate inland  communications.  Realizing  the  im- 
portance of  these  waters,  the  enemy,  after  the  loss  of 
Fort  Hatteras,  began  fortifying  Roanoke  Island,  which 
commanded  the  only  entrance  to  Albemarle  Sound  from 
the  south.  The  island  is  nine  miles  long  and  three 
miles  wide  in  its  broadest  part,  and  was  defended  by 
several  batteries,  which,  together  with  the  neighbor- 
ing marshes  and  the  difficulty  of  navigating  the  nar- 
row channels  or  landing  troops,  rendered  the  place  a 
stronghold.  The  only  road  running  the  length  of  the 
island  was  guarded,  at  a  point  where  the  swamp  ex- 
tended from  it  on  each  side  to  the  water's  edge,  by  a 

1  For  map  of  the  North  Carolina  naval  operations,  see  page  179. 

198 


1862. 


DEFENSES  OF  ROAXOKE   ISLAND. 


199 


masked  battery  of  three  guns,  which  were  trained  to 
sweep  the  approach  for  several  hundred  yards,  while 
trees  and  other  obstructions  were  placed  across  the 
causeway  to  impede  an  attacking  party. 

Two  miles  north  of  this  battery  was  Fort  Bartow, 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  B.  P.  Loyall.  This  was  a 
heptagonal  earthwork,  five  sides  of  which  mounted 
eight  32-pound  smooth-bore  guns  and  one  68-pound 
rifled  gun,  while  a  battery  of  three  field  pieces  pro- 
tected the  rear.  A  mile  and  a  half  above  this  was  Fort 


Scene  of  operations  at  Roanoke  Island. 


Blanchard,  mounting  four  32-pound  smooth-bore  guns  ; 
and  one  mile  above  this  was  Fort  Huger,  mounting 


200  PAML1CO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1861. 

twelve  32- pounders,  rifled  and  smooth-bore,  commanded 
by  Major  John  Taylor,  formerly  of  the  United  States 
navy.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  island  was  Ellis  Bat- 
tery, mounting  two  32-pounders.  Opposite  Fort  Hu- 
ger,  on  the  mainland,  was  Fort  Forrest,  mounting 
seven  32-pounders.  This  work,  like  the  others,  was 
built  on  the  marsh  at  the  edge  of  the  channel,  canal 
boats  and  piles  being  used  as  foundations,  which  ren- 
dered a  land  attack  almost  impossible.  Across  the 
channel,  between  Fort  Forrest  and  Fort  Bartow,  was  a 
double  row  of  piles  and  sunken  vessels,  which  effectu- 
ally obstructed  the  channel  leading  into  Albernarle 
Sound ;  and  just  above  this  barrier  the  Confederate 
squadron,  under  Commodore  Lynch,  was  held  in  readi- 
ness to  assist  the  forts.  It  consisted  of  the  steamers 
Seabird,  Lieutenant  Patrick  McCarrick ;  the  Curlew, 
Commander  Thomas  T.  Hunter  ;  the  Ellis,  Lieutenant 
J.  W.  Cooke  ;  the  Beaufort,  Lieutenant  W.  H.  Parker ; 
the  Raleigh,  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Alexander  ;  the  Fanny, 
Midshipman  Tayloe ;  and  the  Forrest,  Lieutenant 
James  L.  Hoole;  each  carrying  one  rifled  32-pound 
gun,  while  the  Seabird  had  an  additional  30-pound 
rifled  gun.  The  Confederate  forces  in  all  did  not  num- 
ber four  thousand  men. 

One  of  the  first  steps  to  be  taken  in  the  contem- 
plated expedition  against  Roanoke  Island  was  the 
buoying  and  sounding  of  the  intricate  channels  leading 
to  Pamlico  Sound.  In  this  perilous  work  Lieutenant 
Thomas  Stowell  Phelps,  in  the  coast-survey  steamer 
Corwin,  was  engaged  in  November,  1861,  and  although 
frequently  fired  upon  by  the  Confederates  on  shore,  he 
pushed  it  to  a  successful  termination.  On  November 
15th  the  heavily  armed  Confederate  steamer  Chocura 
opened  on  the  Corwin,  driving  the  surveying  boats 
from  their  work.  Lieutenant  Phelps  promptly  re- 
sponded with  his  two  brass  chasers,  "unequaled  in 
the  service  for  their  extraordinary  range,  loaded  with 
pebble  powder  and  Hotchkiss  shell,  four  or  five  miles 


1862.  A    GREAT  FLEET.  ^l 

was  their  range,"1  and  soon  put  the  enemy  to  flight. 
The  storm  that  scattered  Dupont's  fleet  shifted  the 
entire  channel  at  Hatteras  about  fifty  feet. 

Early  in  January,  1862,  twelve  thousand  soldiers, 
commanded  by  Brigadier- General  Ambrose  E.  Burn- 
side,  and  a  naval  force  under  the  orders  of  Flag-Officer 
Louis  M.  Goldsborough,  with  Commander  Stephen 
Clegg  Rowan  as  divisional  commander,  was  detailed 
for  an  expedition  against  Albemarle  Sound.  The 
naval  part  of  the  expedition  consisted  of  a  promiscu- 
ous assortment  of  ferry,  river  and  tug  boats,  armed 
with  guns.  They  were  in  no  way  adapted  for  war  pur- 
poses, and  could  easily  be  disabled  by  a  single  shot. 
Even  the  firing  of  their  own  guns  strained  them  seri- 
ously. The  troops  and  vessels  were  ordered  to  ren- 
dezvous at  Annapolis,  from  which  place  they  pro- 
ceeded early  in  January  to  Fort  Monroe.  The  vessels, 
as  they  passed  each  other  down  the  Potomac,  "saluted 
with  their  steam  whistles,"  wrote  General  Burnside, 
"while  the  band  played  and  the  troops  cheered,  the 
decks  being  covered  with  bluecoats,  some  chatting, 
others  sleeping,  others  writing  their  last  letters  to  their 
loved  ones  at  home.  On  the  night  of  January  10th 
they  arrived  at  Fort  Monroe.  The  harbor  probably 
never  presented  a  finer  appearance  than  on  that  night. 
All  the  vessels  were  illuminated,  and  tho  air  was  filled 
with  the  strains  of  initial  music  and  the  voices  of 
brave  men.  Not  a  man  in  the  fleet  knew  his  destina- 
tion, except  a  few  officers,  yet  there  was  no  complaint 
or  inquisitiveness,  but  all  seemed  ready  for  whatever 
duty  was  before  them.  Much  discouragement  was  ex- 
pressed by  nautical  and  military  men  high  in  author- 
ity as  to  the  success  of  the  expedition.  The  Presi- 
dent was  frequently  warned  that  the  vessels  were  unfit 
for  sea,  and  that  the  expedition  would  be  a  total  fail- 
ure. Great  anxiety  was  manifested  to  know  its  des- 

1  Rear- Admiral  Phelps  to  the  author. 


202  PAMLICO   AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  18G2. 

tination.  One  public  man  was  very  importunate,  and 
in  fact  almost  demanded  that  the  President  should  tell 
him  where  we  were  going.  Finally  the  President  said, 

*  Now,  I  will  tell  you  in  great  confidence  where  they 
are  going,  if  you  will  promise  not  to  speak  of  it  to  any 
one.'    The  promise  was  given,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  said, 

*  Well,  now,  my  friend,   the  expedition  is  going  to 
sea.'"1 

The  motley  marine  force  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads  on  the  night  of  January  llth,  and  by  the  13th 
most  of  the  vessels  had  arrived  off  Hatteras  Inlet.2 
While  entering  the  Sound  the  little  steamer  Picket,  in 
which  were  General  Burnside  and  several  staff  officers, 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  i,  p.  662. 

2  The  vessels  collected  for  the  expedition  were :  The  Philadelphia,  flag- 
ship, two  12-pound  guns.  Lieutenant  Silas  Reynolds ;  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
four  8-inch,  one  30-pound  Parrott,  two  12-pound  guns,  Lieutenant  Reed 
Werden ;  the  Louisiana,  one  8-inch,  three  32-pound,  one  12-pound  rifled 
gun,  Lieutenant  Alexander  Murray :  the  Hetzel,  one  9-inch,  one  80-pound 
rifled  gun,  Lieutenant  II.  K.  Davenport ;  the  Underwriter,  one  8-inch,  one 
80-pound  rifled,  two  12-pound  guns,  Lieutenant  William  N.  Jeffers;  the 
Delaware,  one  9-inch,  one  32-pound,  one  12-pound  gun,  Lieutenant  Stephen 
P.  Quackenbush;  the  Commodore  Perry,  four  9-inch,  one  32-pound,  one 
12-pound  gun,  Lieutenant  Charles  W.  Plusser ;  the  Valley  City,  four  32- 
pound,  one  12-pound  gun,  Lieutenant  James  C.  Chaplin ;  the  Southfield, 
three  9-inch,  one  100-pound  gun,  Lieutenant  C.  F.  W.  Behm ;  the  Commo- 
dore Barney,  three  9-inch,  one  100-pound  gun,  Acting-Lieutenant  Richard 
T.  Renshaw;  the  Hunchback,  three  9-inch,  one  100-pound  gun,  Acting- 
Lieutenant  Edmund  R.  Colhoun;  the  Morse,  two  9-inch  guns,  Acting- 
Master    Peter   Hayes;    the   Whitehead,   one  9-inch  gun,   Acting-Master 
Charles  A.  French;  the  7.  .ZV.  Seymour,  one  30-pound  rifled,  one  12-pound 
gun,  Acting-Master  F.  S.  Wells ;  the  Shawsheen,  two  20-pound  rifled  guns, 
Acting-Master  Thomas  G.  Woodward ;  the  Lockwood,  one  80-pound,  two 
12-pound  guns,  Acting- Master  George  W.  Graves ;  the  Ceres,  one  30-pound 
rifled  gun,  one  32-pound  gun,  Acting-Master  John  McDiarmid ;  the  Put- 
nam, one  20-pound  rifled,  one  32-pound  gun,  Acting- Master  William  J. 
Hotchkiss ;  the  drinker,  one  30-pound  rifled  gun,  Acting- Master  John  E. 
Giddings  ;  the  Granite,  one  32-pound  gun,  Acting-Master's-Mate  Ephraim 
Boomer.     Besides  this  force  there  were  forty-six  army  transports,  each 
armed  with  one  small  gun,  under  Commander  Samuel  F.  Hazard,  of  t'.ie 
navy.     As  the  channels  in  Albomarle  Sound  were  exceedingly  shallow, 
vessels  drawing  more  than  eight  feet  of  water  could  not  be  operated  in 
them. 


1862.  CASUALTIES.  203 

was  almost  sunk  by  two  large  vessels  that  dragged 
their  anchors  and  came  near  crushing  her  between 
them.  On  the  way  to  Hatteras  Inlet  the  old  steamer 
PocaJiontas  was  so  much  injured  as  to  compel  her 
officers  to  run  her  ashore,  and  of  her  cargo  of  one 
hundred  and  thirteen  horses  ninety  were  lost.  The 
large  transport  City  of  New  York  also  went  ashore 
and  became  a  total  wreck,  and  a  part  of  her  cargo  of 
four  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder,  fifteen  hundred 
rifles,  eight  hundred  shells,  and  other  valuable  stores, 
was  lost.  Her  officers  and  men  clung  to  the  rigging 
all  night,  and  were  rescued  on  the  following  day.  The 
gunboat  Zouave  sank  after  crossing  the  bar,  and  while 
passing  from  headquarters  to  the  ships  in  a  surf- 
boat  Colonel  J.  W.  Allen  and  Surgeon  Frederick  A. 
Welles  were  drowned  near  Cape  Hatteras  by  the 
swamping  of  the  boat.  Although  the  expedition  had 
arrived  off  Hatteras  Inlet  by  the  13th  of  January,  it 
was  not  until  the  4th  of  February  that  all  the  vessels 
were  brought  over  the  bar.  This  delay  was  caused  by 
many  of  the  transports  drawing  more  than  eight  feet 
of  water. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  February  5th  the  gun- 
boats formed  in  three  columns,  led  by  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  the  Louisiana  and  the  Hetzel,  and,  carefully 
feeling  their  way,  proceeded  up  the  channel,  the  sound- 
ing boats  being  kept  ahead  to  ascertain  if  the  buoys 
had  been  displaced.  In  some  places  the  channel  was 
so  narrow  that  two  vessels  could  not  ride  abreast.  By 
evening  the  fleet  anchored  off  Stumpy  Point,  as  it  was 
impossible  to  follow  the  channel  at  night.  On  the 
next  morning  the  vessels  got  under  way,  but  at  11 
A.  M.,  two  miles  above  Stumpy  Point,  a  dense  fog  com- 
pelled them  to  anchor  again.  Captain  Goldsborough 
then  shifted  his  flag  to  the  Southfield,  taking  with  him 
staff  officers  Commander  Case,  Captain's  Clerk  Fisher 
as  signal  officer,  and  Lieutenants  T.  R.  Robeson  and 
N.  S.  Barstow.  At  nine  o'clock,  February  7th,  while 


204:  PAML1CO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  18G2. 

the  vessels  were  drawing  near  Roanoke  Island,  the 
Ceres,  the  Putnam  and  the  Underwriter,  led  by  Com- 
mander Rowan,  were  sent  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  ad- 
vance of  the  fleet  to  feel  the  way,  and  to  ascertain  if 
Sandy  Point,  the  place  selected  for  debarkation,  was 
fortified.  The  gunboats  mounting  9-inch  guns  now 
massed  themselves  around  the  flagship  in  anticipation 
of  a  fight,  and  by  10.30  A.  M.  the  enemy's  gunboats 
were  observed  taking  a  position  behind  the  line  of 
piles.  The  Underwriter  shelled  Sandy  Point,  and  in 
twenty-five  minutes  signaled  that  it  was  not  fortified. 
The  army  transports  Picket,  Acting-Master  Thomas 
Boynton  Ives ;  the  Huzzar,  Acting-Master  Frederick 
Crocker ;  the  Pioneer,  Acting-Master  C.  E.  Baker ;  the 
Vidette,  Acting-Master  I.  L.  Foster ;  the  Ranger,  Act- 
ing-Master S.  Emerson  ;  the  Lancer,  Acting-Master  M. 
B.  Morley ;  and  the  Chasseur,  Acting-Master  John 
West,  formed  in  close  order  and  opened  a  heavy  fire 
on  Fort  Bartow,  Fort  Forrest  and  Fort  Blanchard, 
which  was  returned  by  the  enemy. 

.  At  11.30  A.  M.  the  vessels  advanced  to  cover  the 
landing  of  the  troops  at  Sandy  Point.  A  heavy  fire  of 
shrapnel  and  shell  was  thrown  on  shore,  and  at  the 
same  time  an  animated  cannonade  was  maintained 
with  the  Confederate  gunboats  and  the  land  batteries. 
By  noon  the  action  had  become  general,  the  enemy 
returning  the  fire  with  promptness  and  skill.  At  1.30 
p.  M.  flames  were  observed  in  Fort  Bartow,  and  in  an 
hour  it  was  destroyed.  The  Confederate  gunboats  had 
taken  position  at  fourteen  hundred  yards  and  fired 
with  considerable  accuracy,  and  suffered  somewhat  in 
return.  Early  in  the  fight  the  Forrest  was  disabled  in 
her  machinery,  and  her  young  commander,  Lieutenant 
Hoole,  was  badly  wounded  in  the  head  by  a  piece  of 
shell.  She  then  ran  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Forrest 
and  anchored.  About  3  P.  M.,  when  the  fire  was  heavi- 
est, the  troops  embarked  in  light  steamers  and  boats, 
and  effected  a  landing  in  Ashby  Harbor.  But  while 


1862.  CHARGE  ALONG   THE  CAUSEWAY.  205 

they  were  approaching  the  shore,  a  large  body  of  Con- 
federate soldiers  with  a  field  piece  attempted  to  dis- 
pute the  landing,  upon  which  the  Delaware.  Com- 
mander Rowan,  took  a  position  south  of  Fort  Bartow, 
and  with  a  free  use  of  9-inch  shrapnel  put  the  enemy 
to  flight.  While  this  was  going  on,  Fort  Bartow  and 
Fort  Blanchard,  at  4. 30 P.M.,  were  silenced,  and  the 
Confederate  steamers  retired  behind  Fort  Huger,  ap- 
parently much  injured.  At  five  o'clock,  however,  they 
returned  to  the  attack,  and  with  the  forts  opened  a 
heavy  fire ;  but  in  forty  minutes  they  again  retired, 
the  Curlew  disabled  and  seeking  refuge  behind  Fort 
Forrest.  A  heavy  shell  had  dropped  on  her  hurricane 
deck  and  gone  through  her  decks  and  bottom  as  if 
they  were  so  much  paper.  The  batteries  slackened 
fire,  and  by  6  P.  M.  Fort  Bartow  alone  was  replying  to 
the  attack,  firing  only  at  long  intervals.  As  it  was 
fast  growing  dark,  the  order  to  cease  firing  was  given, 
but  the  work  of  landing  troops  was  pushed  until  mid- 
night, when  about  a  thousand  men,  together  with  six 
navy  howitzers,  under  the  orders  of  Midshipmen  Ben- 
jamin J.  Porter  and  Hammond,  were  placed  ashore. 

At  daybreak,  February  8th,  General  Foster's  bri- 
gade, consisting  of  the  23d,  the  25th  and  the  27th  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  the  10th  Connecticut  regiments,  with 
the  navy  howitzers,  moved  forward,  and  after  fording 
a  creek  came  upon  the  Confederate  pickets,  who  dis- 
charged their  muskets  and  retreated  to  their  main 
body.  The  National  forces  soon  reached  the  road 
running  northward,  and  after  a  march  of  a  mile  and  a 
half  came  in  sight  of  the  battery  of  three  guns  which 
commanded  the  causeway  through  the  marsh.  The 
27th  Massachusetts  was  now  detailed  to  the  right,  with 
orders  to  force  its  way  through  the  morass,  and  if  pos- 
sible rout  the  enemy's  sharpshooters,  while  General 
Reno's  brigade,  consisting  of  the  21st  Massachusetts, 
the  51st  New  York  and  the  9th  New  Jersey,  pushed 
through  the  swamp  and  thick  undergrowth  on  the  left, 


206  PAML1CO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

so  as  to  turn  the  enemy's  right  wing.  At  nine  o'clock 
the  25th  Massachusetts,  with  the  navy  howitzers,  be- 
gan the  attack  along  the  causeway.  The  fire  at  this 
point  soon  became  heavy,  the  enemy  firing  with  de- 
liberation and  accuracy  upon  the  exposed  assailants, 
while  the  National  troops,  stopping  to  remove  the 
large  timbers  from  their  path,  could  not  fire  as  effec- 
tively. 

Just  as  the  ammunition  for  the  howitzers  was  giving 
out,  General  Parke,  with  the  4th  Rhode  Island,  the 
10th  Connecticut  and  the  9th  New  York  (Hawkins 
Zouaves),  came  to  their  support ;  but  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  continue  the  attack  until  the  howitzers  were  re- 
plenished, unless  the  enemy's  position  was  carried  by 
storm.  For  this  hazardous  undertaking  Colonel  Haw- 
kins gallantly  offered  his  services.  His  men  formed 
with  fixed  bayonets  and  started  for  the  Confederate 
guns,  leaping  over  fallen  trees  and  other  debris  at  the 
top  of  their  speed,  yelling,  "Zou !  Zou !  Zou ! "  The  on- 
slaught was  irresistible,  and  the  Confederates  deserted 
their  guns  after  the  first  fire.  Leaving  the  redoubt  to 
be  secured  by  the  troops  that  were  behind  them,  the 
Zouaves  followed  up  the  road  in  hot  pursuit  of  the 
fleeing  enemy,  until  they  reached  the  path  leading  to 
Fort  Bartow,  where  they  halted,  as  it  was  understood 
that  a  large  body  of  troops  guarded  the  land  approach 
to  that  fort.  While  they  were  thus  waiting,  General 
Foster's  command  came  up,  and  the  Zouaves  were  or- 
dered to  secure  the  battery  at  Shallowbag  Bay,  while 
the  remainder  of  the  brigade,  after  leaving  a  regiment 
to  march  against  Fort  Bartow,  resumed  the  pursuit  of 
the  fleeing  Confederates  to  the  north.  Abreast  of  Fort 
Blanchard  a  flag  of  truce  was  met,  and  after  a  brief 
negotiation  two  thousand  Confederates  uncondition- 
ally surrendered,  and  about  the  same  time  six  hundred 
men  surrendered  at  Fort  Bartow. 

At  the  time  General  Foster  was  attacking  the  three- 
gun  battery  on  the  causeway  the  gunboats  under  Com- 


1862.  ROWAN'S  HANDSOME  DASH.  207 

mander  Rowan  moved  up  the  channel  and  opened  a 
heavy  lire  on  the  forts.  But  at  ten  o'clock  the  order 
"Cease  firing"  was  given,  as  it  was  thought  that  the 
troops  might  be  attacking  the  forts  from  the  rear. 
At  1  P.  M.  the  Underwriter,  the  Valley  City,  the  Sey- 
mour, the  Lockwood,  the  Geres,  the  Shawsheen,  the 
Putnam,  the  Whitehead  and  the  Bririker  were  or- 
dered to  break  through  the  line  of  piles  that  crossed 
the  channel  leading  into  Albemarle  Sound.  This  was 
done  in  gallant  style,  and  by  five  o'clock  the  vessels 
had  gained  the  other  side.  About  the  same  time  the 
United  States  colors  were  seen  waving  from  Fort  Bar- 
tow,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the  enemy  fired  the  wood- 
work in  Fort  Forrest,  and  the  steamer  Curlew,  both 
blowing  up  in  the  night. 

In  this  affair  the  navy  had  six  men  killed,  seventeen 
wounded  and  two  missing,  while  the  troops  had  forty- 
one  killed  and  a  hundred  and  eighty-one  wounded. 
The  Confederate  loss,  owing  to  the  protection  afforded 
by  their  earthworks,  was  much  less.  Two  thousand 
six  hundred  and  seventy-five  prisoners  were  taken,  to- 
gether with  three  thousand  small  arms.  In  his  official 
report,  Captain  Goldsborough,  while  speaking  in  the 
highest  terms  of  all  his  officers,  specially  commended 
the  gallantry  of  Commanders  Rowan  and  Case. 

Driven  from  Roanoke  Island,  the  Confederates  col- 
lected the  remnants  of  their  forces  and  made  a  gallant 
stand  at  Elizabeth  City,  which  guarded  the  approach 
to  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal.  The  National  forces 
entered  Albemarle  Sound  on  the  morning  of  February 
9th,  with  the  following  gunboats,  under  Commander 
Rowan  :  Delaware  (flagship),  Louslana,  Hetzel,  Under- 
writer, Commodore  Perry,  Valley  City,  Morse,  Lock- 
wood,  Ceres,  Shawsheen,  Br inker  and  Putnam.  Mak- 
ing their  way  among  the  treacherous  shoals,  they  dis- 
covered two  steamers  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
heading  for  Pasquotank  River,  and  gave  chase,  but 
without  success.  By  sunset  the  National  gunboats  ap- 


208          •      PAMLICO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

preached  the  river,  and  at  8  P.  M.  they  dropped  anchor 
about  ten  miles  below  Cobb's  Point.  At  daylight, 
February  10th,  they  advanced  toward  Elizabeth  City, 
where  the  six  Confederate  gunboats  were  drawn  up  in 
line  of  battle  three  hundred  yards  behind  a  battery 
mounting  four  32-pounders.  The  Commodore  Perry, 
the  Morse  and  the  Delaware,  flanked  by  the  Ceres  on 
the  right,  led  the  advance.  As  the  ammunition  of  the 
National  gunboats  had  been  reduced  to  twenty  rounds, 
Commander  Rowan  issued  orders  that  no  gun  be  fired 
except  within  short  range,  where  every  shot  would  tell. 
The  gunboats  steamed  rapidly  up  the  river,  passed 
the  battery  without  slackening  speed  and  made  straight 
for  the  enemy's  flotilla.  The  Commodore  Perry,  steer- 
ing for  the  Confederate  flagship,  the  Seabird,  ran  her 
down  and  crushed  in  her  sides,  so  that  she  began  to 
sink.  The  Ceres,  selecting  the  Ellis,  ran  alongside 
and  carried  her  by  boarding,  but  not  without  a  desper- 
ate resistance  on  the  part  of  her  men,  wTho  did  not  sur- 
render until  their  commander,  Lieutenant  Cooke,  had 
been  badly  wounded.  The  Delaware  chased  the  Fanny 
ashore,  where  she  was  blown  up  by  her  own  men.  The 
Black  Warrior  was  run  ashore  and  burned,  her  crew 
escaping  on  shore  ;  and  Captain  Lynch's  boat,  in  which 
he  was  endeavoring  to  get  into  action,  was  cut  in  two 
by  a  shot.  The  Appomattox,  Captain  Sims,  attempted 
to  escape  by  the  canal,  but  drew  too  much  water  and 
was  blown  up.  The  Valley  City  and  the  WMtehead 
meantime  returned  to  the  battery  on  land,  and  soon 
compelled  it  to  surrender.  Thus  in  fifteen  minutes  four 
of  the  enemy's  steamers  were  destroyed,  one  captured, 
and  two,  the  Raleigh  and  the  Beaufort,  put  to  flight 
up  the  Pasquotank  River,  where  they  escaped  to  Nor- 
folk by  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal.  The  National  loss 
in  this  affair  was  two  killed  and  two  wounded  ;  that  of 
the  enemy  was  considerably  greater.  Two  days  later 
Lieutenant  Murray,  with  the  Louisiana,  the  Under- 
writer, the  Commodore  Perry  and  the  LocTcwood,  took 


1862.  NARROW  ESCAPE  AT  WINTON.  209 

possession  of  Edenton,  and  on  the  13th  Lieutenant 
Jeffers,  with  the  LocTcwood,  the  ShawsJieen  and  the 
WTiitehead,  went  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
Albemarle  Canal,  dispersed  some  Confederate  troops 
that  had  collected  there,  and  sank  two  schooners  so  as 
to  obstruct  the  canal. 

On  the  19th  of  February  Commander  Rowan,  with 
eight  gunboats  and  a  small  detachment  of  troops 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Hawkins,  ascended 
Chowan  River  to  Winton,  where  it  was  rumored  there 
were  a  number  of  Union  men  who  would  enlist  if  they 
had  an  opportunity.  Being  a  little  suspicious  of  these 
reports,  Colonel  Hawkins,  as  the  vessel  approached 
Winton,  stationed  himself  in  the  crosstrees  of  the 
Delaware^  mainmast,  so  as  to  get  a  better  view  of  the 
town.  As  the  vessels  were  about  to  run  alongside  the 
wharf,  at  3.30  P.  M.,  a  negro  woman  stood  on  the  shore 
waving  a  welcome  to  them  ;  but  from  his  elevated  posi- 
tion Colonel  Hawkins  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  glistening 
barrels  of  many  muskets  in  the  bushes  on  shore  and 
two  pieces  of  artillery  trained  to  sweep  the  wharf.  He 
gave  the  warning  to  the  officer  of  the  deck  just  in 
time  to  prevent  a  landing,  and  the  vessels  passed  on 
at  full  speed,  clearing  the  wharf  by  less  than  ten  feet. 
Finding  that  they  were  discovered,  the  Confederates 
opened  fire,  riddling  the  bulwarks  and  masts  of  the 
vessels,  but  fortunately  hurt  no  one.  Under  cover  of 
the  flotilla's  guns,  Colonel  Hawkins  landed  with  his 
men,  dispersed  the  enemy,  and  destroyed  all  public 
stores  in  the  place.  The  expedition  then  returned  to 
the  sound. 

Control  of  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  Sounds  being 
secured,  the  next  step  was  to  capture  the  towns  ad- 
joining these  waters,  the  most  important  of  which  was 
New  Berne,  a  town  of  six  thousand  inhabitants,  con- 
nected by  rail  with  Beaufort  and  Richmond,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Neuse  and  Trent  rivers.  The  naviga- 
tion of  the  Neuse  was  obstructed  a  few  miles  below 

59 


210  PAMLICO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

the  town  by  twenty-four  vessels  locked  together  with 
cables  and  spars  and  sunk  across  the  channel ;  their 
masts,  appearing  above  the  water,  were  firmly  inter- 
woven with  timbers  and  chains,  so  as  to  make  it  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  for  an  enemy  to  break  through  even 
when  not  under  fire.  A  second  and  perhaps  more  for- 
midable obstruction  was  placed  a  short  distance  down 
the  stream.  It  consisted  of  a  row  of  piles  across  the 
channel,  driven  firmly  into  the  bed  of  the  river  and  hav- 
ing their  heads  cut  off  below  the  water.  A  second  row, 
with  heads  capped  with  sharp  iron,  was  driven  across 
the  first  row  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  so  that 
the  iron  heads  pointed  down  stream,  and,  being  sub- 
merged, would  pierce  the  thin  hulls  of  steamers  com- 
ing up  the  river.  In  front  of  this  barricade  were  thirty 
torpedoes,  fitted  with  trigger  lines  attached  to  the  piles 
so  as  to  explode  when  a  vessel  struck,  each  torpedo 
containing  two  hundred  pounds  of  powder.  A  large 
raft  laden  with  cotton  saturated  with  turpentine  was 
in  readiness  to  be  fired  and  sent  down  the  narrow 
channel  on  the  approach  of  a  hostile  squadron.  These 
formidable  obstructions  were  supplemented  with  forts 
and  earthworks,  which  had  been  constructed  with  great 
labor  and  considerable  skill.  The  first  fortification, 
Fort  Dixie,  about  six  miles  from  New  Berne,  mounted 
four  guns.  Then  came  Fort  Thompson,  mounting  thir- 
teen guns,  which  was  four  miles  below  New  Berne  ;  and 
a  mile  above  this  was  Fort  Ellis,  with  eight  guns.  Two 
miles  from  New  Berne  was  Fort  Lane,  with  eight  guns, 
and  within  a  mile  of  the  town  was  Union  Point,  with 
two  guns.  All  these  works  were  on  the  south  side  of 
the  river,  their  land  approaches  being  guarded  by  rifle 
pits,  while  a  movable  battery  on  a  railroad  track  en- 
abled the  enemy  to  send  speedy  re-enforcements  to  any 
threatened  point. 

After  ascertaining  the  character  of  these  defenses, 
General  Burnside  determined  to  land  his  troops  at 
Slocum  Creek,  ten  miles  below  New  Berne,  and  attack 


1802.  ATTACK  ON  NEW  BERNE.  2H 

the  forts  from  the  rear,  while  the  flotilla  was  to  open  a 
bombardment  from  the  river.  Accordingly,  early  on 
the  morning  of  March  12th  the  naval  expedition  left 
Hatteras  Inlet,  the  vessels  under  the  orders  of  Com- 
mander Rowan  consisting  of  the  steamers  Delaware 
(flagship),  Stars  and  Stripes,  Valley  City,  Commodore 
Barney,  Southfield,  Brinker,  Louisiana,  Hetzel,  Com- 
modore Perry,  Underwriter  (now  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant A.  Hopkins),  Hunchback,  Morse  and  Lockwood. 
About  half  past  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  ad- 
vance division  of  gunboats  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Neuse,  where  it  was  learned  that  two  steamers  had 
been  discovered  in  Pamlico  River  and  'might  come  out 
and  cut  off  some  of  the  transports.  The  Loekwood  was 
detailed  to  watch  them,  and  at  five  o'clock  chase  was 
given  to  a  small  steamer  that  was  reconnoitering  the 
fleet,  and  the  steamer  hastily  retired  under  the  guns 
of  the  fort.  The  flotilla  then  anchored  for  the  night 
off  Slocum's  Creek. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  following  morning,  March 
13th,  the  troops,  with  six  boat  howitzers,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  Roderick  S.  McCook,  assisted 
by  Captains  Drayton  and  Bennett  of  the  marines, 
landed  under  cover  of  a  heavy  fire  of  grape  and  shell 
from  the  gunboats.  The  Commodore  Perry  then  ran 
up  the  river  and  opened  an  animated  fire  on  Fort 
Dixie,  which  was  maintained  until  dark,  while  the 
troops  got  under  way  and  continued  their  march  over 
heavy  roads  till  9  P.  M.  At  daylight  on  the  14th 
the  march  was  resumed,  and  by  seven  o'clock  they 
came  in  sight  of  Fort  Thompson  and  began  the  attack. 
For  two  hours  a  fierce  conflict  raged  in  front  of  the 
earthworks  and  rifle  -pits.  The  naval  howitzers  under 
Lieutenant  McCook  being  deployed  to  the  right  made 
a  splendid  fight  under  a  heavy  fire  of  grape  and  shell 
from  six  of  the  enemy's  guns.  Between  9  and  10  A.  M. 
the  troops  ran  short  of  ammunition,  when  they  were 
ordered  to  charge  with  the  bayonet.  This  was  done 


212  PAMLICO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

with  great  spirit,  and  after  a  momentary  repulse  they 
carried  the  earthworks  and  put  the  enemy  to  flight. 
This  left  the  road  clear  to  New  Berne,  for  after  their 
defeat  at  Fort  Thompson  the  Confederates  abandoned 
their  remaining  posts. 

During  this  attack  a  heavy  fog  settled  over  the 
river,  making  it  difficult  for  the  gunboats  to  manoeuvre  ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  first  gun  was  heard  on  the  morning 
of  the  14th,  the  Delaware,  the  Hunchback  and  the 
Southfield  opened  fire  on  Fort  Dixie.  As  no  reply  was 
made  by  the  fort,  a  boat  was  sent  ashore,  and  the  place 
was  found  to  be  deserted.  The  gunboats  next  ad- 
vanced against  Fort  Ellis  and  fired  a  shell  into  it, 
causing  the  magazine  to  explode.  At  this  moment  the 
troops  were  hotly  engaged  in  the  rear  of  Fort  Thomp- 
son, and  the  gunboats  approached  the  barriers  and 
fired  at  the  earthwork  from  a  distance.  Learning  that 
his  shells  were  falling  near  the  National  troops,  Com- 
mander Rowan  ceased  firing,  and,  boldly  taking  the 
lead,  drove  his  vessel  against  the  line  of  piles  and  tor- 
pedoes. Fortunately  the  torpedoes  failed  to  ignite, 
else  the  flagship  and  her  gallant  commander  would 
have  been  blown  to  atoms.  The  iron-pointed  piles 
were  more  effective.  The  Commodore  Perry,  running 
against  one  of  them,  broke  oft5  the  head  and  carried  it 
for  some  time  sticking  in  her  hull.  The  Commodore 
Barney  also  had  a  hole  cut  in  her  bottom,  while  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  was  severely  injured. 

Without  waiting  to  repair  damages,  the  gunboats 
hastened  to  get  abreast  of  Fort  Thompson,  so  as  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  fight  at  close  quarters  ;  but  just  as  they 
cleared  the  line  of  obstructions  the  troops  carried  the 
fort  by  storm  and  greeted  the  approaching  steamers 
with  the  National  colors.  Upon  this,  Commander 
Bo  wan  passed  rapidly  ahead,  threw  a  few  shells  into 
Fort  Lane,  and,  getting  no  reply,  ordered  the  Valley 
City  to  take  possession.  The  remaining  gunboats 
pushed  up  the  river  and  took  possession  of  New  Berne 


1862.  FORT  MACON.  213 

just  as  the  enemy  had  fired  the  town  in  several  places. 
At  this  moment  some  steamboats  and  a  schooner  laden 
with  commissary  stores  were  discovered  attempting  to 
escape  up  the  Neuse,  whereupon  the  Delaware  gave 
chase  and  compelled  one  of  the  steamers  to  run  ashore, 
while  the  other  two  with  the  schooner  were  captured. 
By  noon  the  gunboats  had  complete  possession  of  the 
town.  The  flames  started  by  the  Confederates  were 
extinguished,  and  all  the  arms  and  public  stores  were 
secured.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  victori- 
ous National  troops  appeared  on  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  Trent,  and  before  night  were  transferred  to  the 
New  Berne  side.  In  this  affair  the  navy  had  two  men 
killed  and  eleven  wounded,  all  in  Lieutenant  McCook's 
command.  The  loss  of  the  land  forces,  on  account  of 
their  exposed  position,  was  much  greater. 

The  next  point  of  attack  in  this  quarter  was  Fort 
Macon,  a  massive  work  mounting  nearly  fifty  guns,  but 
manned  by  only  four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  these  were  reported  as  being  unfit 
for  service.  Late  in  March  General  Burnside  landed 
troops  and  erected  batteries  on  the  narrow  peninsula, 
at  the  end  of  which  was  Fort  Macon,  and  by  April  23d 
the  fort  was  cut  off  from  all  communications.  The  Na- 
tional batteries  consisted  of  three  30-pounder  Parrott 
rifled  guns,  under  the  command  of  Captain  L.  O.  Mor- 
ris ;  four  10-inch  mortars,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant M.  F.  Prouty ;  and  four  8-inch  mortars,  under 
Lieutenant  D.  W.  Flagler.  At  5.40  A.  M.  on  the  morn- 
ing of  April  25th  the  bombardment  was  begun.  The 
naval  force  consisted  of  the  gunboats  Daylight  (flag- 
ship), Commander  Samuel  Lockwood ;  CMppewa,  Lieu- 
tenant Andrew  Bryson  ;  State  of  Georgia,  Commander 
James  F.  Armstrong,  and  the  Gemsbok,  Lieutenant  E. 
Cavendy.  At  9  A.  M.  these  vessels,  although  not  in- 
tended for  participation  in  the  bombardment,  came 
into  range  and  opened  fire.  At  first  their  shot  fell 
wide  of  the  mark,  but  soon,  in  spite  of  the  heavy  sea, 


214:  PAMLICO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

they  secured  the  range  and  enfiladed  the  fort.  After 
being  in  action  two  hours  they  were  compelled  by  the 
increasing  sea  to  haul  off  into  deeper  water.  In  this 
short  fight  the  GemsboJc  suffered  somewhat  in  her  rig- 
ging, and  a  32- pounder  shot  struck  the  Daylight  near 
the  gangway,  passed  through  the  engine  room,  carried 
away  a  portion  of  the  iron  stairway,  broke  Engineer 
Eugene  J.  Wade's  left  arm,  entered  the  captain's  cabin 
and  lodged  in  the  port  side.  The  shore  batteries,  how- 
ever, bore  the  brunt  of  the  conflict.  Their  fire  was  ex- 
ceedingly effective,  driving  the  enemy  from  his  water 
batteries  and  silencing  his  remaining  guns  one  by  one, 
until  at  four  o'clock  the  fort  was  surrendered. 

Compared  with  the  more  important  naval  operations 
in  the  war,  the  service  on  the  North  Carolina  sounds 
was  of  minor  importance,  but  owing  to  the  peculiar 
difficulties  under  which  our  officers  and  men  labored  it 
called  for  great  endurance  and  gallantry.  The  facili- 
ties for  constructing  ironclads  afforded  by  the  several 
rivers  entering  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  Sounds  com- 
pelled the  National  forces  to  make  frequent  incursions 
to  such  towns  as  Washington,  Plymouth  and  Hamil- 
ton, to  assure  themselves  that  such  craft  were  not  in 
course  of  construction.  If  the  Confederates  could  com- 
plete an  ironclad,  it  would  soon  clear  these  waters  of 
the  frail  wooden  steamers  that  constituted  the  Na- 
tional naval  force  ;  and,  in  spite  of  great  watchfulness, 
as  will  be  seen  in  another  chapter,  they  succeeded  in 
completing  a  powerful  ironclad,  constructed  especially 
for  operations  in  these  shallow  waters.  On  the  9th  of 
July  the  Commodore  Perry,  the  Geres  and  the  Shaw- 
sheen,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Charles  W. 
Flusser,  with  forty  soldiers,  forced  the  barricades  in 
Roanoke  River  and  steamed  up  to  Hamilton.  The  nar- 
row channel  compelled  the  steamers  to  move  cautious- 
ly, while  the  high,  thickly  wooded  banks  gave  the 
Confederate  sharpshooters  every  opportunity  to  pick 
off  the  officers  and  men.  Notwithstanding  a  loss  of 


1862.  EXPEDITION  AGAINST  FRANKLIN.  215 

one  man  killed  and  ten  wounded,  Lieutenant  Flusser 
reached  Hamilton,  where  he  captured  the  steamer  Wil- 
son and  destroyed  the  battery  and  earthworks,  and 
returned  unmolested. 

On  the  3d  of  October  a  detachment  of  troops  under 
Major-General  John  A.  Dix  and  a  naval  force  under 
Lieutenant  Flusser  advanced  against  Franklin.  When 
about  two  miles  from  that  town  the  steamers  Commo- 
dore Perry  (flagship),  Hunchback,  Lieutenant  Edmund 
K.  Colhoun,  and  the  Whitehead,  Acting-Master  Charles 
A.  French,  while  endeavoring  to  round  a  bend  in  the 
river,  were  tired  upon  by  riflemen  in  ambush.  The 
stream  at  this  point  was  so  narrow  that  even  these  lit- 
tle steamers  could  not  turn  round,  and  they  could  not 
elevate  their  guns  sufficiently  to  reach  the  high  banks. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  push  ahead,  which  they  did, 
only  to  find  themselves  cut  off  from  further  progress 
by  barricades  across  the  river.  In  the  mean  time  the 
enemy  greatly  increased  in  numbers,  and  the  fire  of 
musketry  made  it  extremely  hazardous  for  any  man 
to  expose  himself  on  deck  or  at  an  open  port ;  and  at 
the  same  time  the  Confederates  began  to  fell  trees 
across  the  stream  below  the  ensnared  gunboats  so  as 
to  cut  off  their  retreat.  The  National  troops  failed  to 
co-operate  with  the  navy,  and  "having no  support  from 
the  army  we  had  to  fight  a  large  force  of  the  enemy 
with  only  three  gunboats."  *  The  situation  was  nearly 
hopeless,  but  after  much  difficulty  the  steamers  man- 
aged to  turn  their  heads  downstream,  and  slowly 
pushed  their  way  through  the  fallen  timbers  and  were 
again  free.  In  this  affair  the  navy  had  four  men  killed 
and  eleven  wounded. 

On  the  23d  of  November  the  Ellis,  Lieutenant  Wil- 
liam Barker  Gushing,  steamed  up  the  river  Onslow 
with  a  view  of  surprising  the  town  of  that  name,  seiz- 
ing arms  and  other  military  stores  that  had  been  col- 

1  Rear-Admiral  Colhoun  to  the  author. 


216  PAMLICO  AND  ALBEMARLE  SOUNDS.  1862. 

lected  there,  and  capturing  the  Wilmington  mail. 
When  five  miles  up  the  river  the  Ellis  met  an  out- 
ward-bound steamer  laden  with  cotton  and  turpentine, 
which  the  enemy  burned  to  prevent  capture.  By  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Lieutenant  Gushing  arrived  at 
Onslow,  where  twenty-five  stands  of  arms,  two  schoon- 
ers and  the  Wilmington  mail  were  captured,  and  an 
extensive  salt-work  was  destroyed.  At  daylight  the 
next  day,  while  returning  down  the  river  with  the 
schooners,  the  Ellis  was  fired  upon  by  two  pieces  of 
artillery  from  the  shore  ;  but  after  an  hour  of  spirited 
cannonading  the  enemy  was  silenced,  and  Lieutenant 
Gushing  proceeded  on  his  way.  About  five  hundred 
yards  from  a  bluff,  however,  the  pilot  ran  the  Ellis 
aground,  the  headway  forcing  her  over  a  sand  bank 
and  into  deeper  water  on  the  other  side,  which  was  sur- 
rounded by  shoals.  Every  effort  was  made  to  get  her 
into  the  channel  again,  but  in  vain. 

Several  men  were  now  sent  to  secure  the  two  pieces 
of  artillery  which  had  just  been  silenced  on  shore,  so 
that  they  could  be  used  in  defense  of  the  Ellis,  but  on 
reaching  the  place  it  was  found  that  they  had  been 
carried  off.  When  night  came  on,  one  of  the  captured 
schooners  was  brought  alongside,  and  everything  in 
the  Ellis  was  transferred  to  it  except  the  pivot  gun, 
some  ammunition,  two  tons  of  coal,  and  a  few  small 
arms ;  but  still  the  steamer  could  not  be  moved  from 
her  position.  The  men  were  then  placed  in  the  schooner 
and  ordered  to  make  the  best  of  their  way  down  the 
river  and  there  await  Lieutenant  Gushing,  who,  with 
six  volunteers,  resolved  to  remain  in  the  Ellis  and 
fight  her  to  the  last  plank.  Early  the  next  morning, 
November  25th,  the  Confederates  opened  on  the  steamer 
with  four  rifled  guns  from  as  many  points  of  the  com- 
pass. Lieutenant  Gushing  replied  to  this  cross  fire  as 
well  as  he  could,  but  his  boat  was  soon  cut  to  pieces, 
and  the  only  alternative  was  surrender,  or  flight  in  an 
open  boat  which  for  a  mile  and  a  half  would  be  ex- 


1862.  LIEUT.  CUSHING'S  NARROW  ESCAPE.  217 

posed  to  the  enemy' s  fire.  The  plucky  lieutenant  chose 
the  latter,  and  after  setting  the  Ellis  on  fire  and  load- 
ing her  32-pounder  for  the  last  time,  he  pulled  away 
with  his  men,  leaving  her  flag  flying,  and  made  down 
stream  with  all  speed.  After  a  hard  pull  the  men 
escaped  the  batteries  and  passed  the  bar  just  in  time 
to  elude  the  Confederate  cavalry,  which  had  galloped 
around  in  the  hope  of  cutting  them  off  before  they 
could  gain  the  open  sound.  The  Ellis  shortly  after- 
ward blew  up. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  MERRIMAC   IN  HAMPTON   KOADS. 

THE  successful  introduction  of  iron  in  the  construc- 
tion of  merchant  vessels  had  turned  the  attention  of 
naval  architects  to  the  utility  of  that  material  in  ships 
of  war.  The  great  objection  that  had  hitherto  been 
urged  against  it  was  that  shot,  in  passing  through,  left 
an  irregular  hole,  which  could  not  be  easily  plugged. 
In  the  days  of  wooden  war  ships  shot  holes  below  the 
water  line  were  easily  repaired  by  stoppers  made  to  fit 
12,  18,  24  or  32-pound  shot,  as  the  case  required.  But 
this  objection  was  soon  overcome  by  plating  the  ships 
so  heavily  as  to  render  them  impervious  to  shot,  while 
iron  gave  the  further  advantage  of  water-tight  bulk- 
heads and  greater  security  against  fire.  The  scarcity 
of  large  timber,  both  in  England  and  in  France,  was  a 
powerful  stimulus  in  the  introduction  of  iron  in  ship- 
building. In  1859  the  French  launched  la  Gloire.  a 
timber- built  steam  frigate  resembling  a  line  of  battle 
ship  cut  down  and  incased  with  four  and  three  quar- 
ters inches  of  iron.  She  carried  thirty-four  54-pound 
guns  and  two  shell  guns  forward,  her  draught  being 
twenty -seven  and  a  half  feet  and  her  speed  eleven 
knots  an  hour.  In  that  year  the  French  and  English 
navies  stood  as  follows:  Forty  line  of  battle  ships, 
forty-six  frigates  and  four  iron-plated  ships  on  the  side 
of  the  French,  and  fifty  line  of  battle  ships  and  thirty- 
four  frigates  for  the  English.  The  ominous  "four 
iron-plated  ships  "  on  the  French  list  turned  the  scale 
heavily  in  favor  of  France.  The  wooden  line  of  battle 
ships  and  frigates  were  suddenly  found  to  be  valueless, 

218 


1860-1861.  NORFOLK  NAVY   YARD.  219 

and  many  that  were  on  the  stocks  were  not  completed. 
In  great  alarm  the  Admiralty,  in  1860,  hastened  the 
construction  of  the  ironclad  steam  frigate  Warrior,  the 
first  of  this  type  in  the  British  navy.  The  central  por- 
tions of  her  sides  were  plated  with  four  and  a  half 
inches  of  iron,  and  her  speed  was  thirteen  and  a  half 
knots  an  hour. 

Shortly  before  the  civil  war  began,  Captain  Charles 
Stewart  McCauley,  commandant  of  the  Norfolk  Navy 
Yard,  was  cautioned  by  the  Government  to  do  nothing 
that  might  lead  the  people  of  Virginia  to  think  their 
loyalty  to  the  Federal  Government  was  doubted.  The 
State  was  then  debating  the  question  of  secession,  and 
it  was  feared  that  any  step  to  fortify  or  destroy  the 
navy  yard  at  Norfolk  by  the  United  States  officials 
might  precipitate  hostilities.  The  attitude  of  the  State 
authorities  became  so  threatening,  however,  that  on 
the  19th  of  April  Captain  McCauley  determined  to  de- 
stroy the  stores  and  vessels  there,  the  latter  consisting 
of  the  old  ship  of  the  line  Pennsylvania,  the  sailing 
frigate  Cumberland,  the  steam  frigate  Merrimac,  five 
large  sailing  vessels,  the  sailing  sloops  of  war  German- 
town  and  Plymouth  and  the  brig  Dolphin. 

Before  the  work  of  destruction  was  begun  the 
Pawnee,  Captain  Hiram  Paulding,  having  on  board 
Captain  Wright,  of  the  engineers,  and  a  regiment  of 
Massachusetts  volunteers,  steamed  up  Elizabeth  River, 
on  the  20th  of  April,  to  assist  in  saving  the  vessels  and 
destroying  whatever  could  not  be  removed.  It  was 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  the  Pawnee  came  in 
sight  of  Norfolk,  and  as  the  breeze  made  it  impossible 
for  her  answering  signal  to  be  distinguished  aboard 
of  the  National  ships  in  the  yard,  preparations  were 
made  to  attack  her.  Seeing  that  the  officer  in  charge 
of  the  pivot  gun  aboard  the  Cumberland  was  ready  to 
fire  on  the  Pawnee,  and  realizing  that  Captain  Pauld- 
ing would  be  likely  to  return  it  under  the  impression 
that  the  yard  was  actually  in  the  hands  of  the  Confed- 


220  TUE  MERRIMAC  IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1861. 

erates,  and  that  he  had  been  lured  into  a  trap,  Lieuten- 
ant Allen,  of  the  Pennsylvania,  with  great  presence  of 
mind,  suggested  that  his  people  cheer  the  Pawnee. 
By  this  means  the  other  National  vessels  knew  that  the 
approaching  stranger  was  a  friend,  and  a  possible  dis- 
astrous fight  between  the  ships  was  thus  averted. 

At  twenty  minutes  after  four  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  April  21st  a  rocket  was  sent  up  as  a  signal  for 
the  ships  and  the  woodwork  in  the  navy  yard  to  be 
destroyed,  and  in  a  few  minutes  all  the  shops,  houses, 
and  war  vessels,  excepting  the  Cumberland  and 
the  Pawnee,  were  set  on  fire.  But  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  stores,  with  two  thousand  cannon  of  the 
best  make,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates,  and 
was  distributed  over  the  South.  The  charge  of  pow- 
der that  was  to  blow  up  the  dry  dock  failed  to  ignite. 
The  Cumberland  was  in  great  danger  of  being  cap- 
tured, for  the  enemy  had  obstructed  the  channel  with 
sunken  vessels ;  but  the  powerful  chartered  steamer 
Keystone  State,  Lieutenant  Stephen  Decatur  Trench- 
ard,  and  the  tugboat  Yankee,  after  an  hour  of  persist- 
ent ramming,  succeeded  in  crushing  through  the  ob- 
structions. 

The  40-gun  frigate  Merrimac,  of  three  thousand 
five  hundred  tons,  after  burning  to  the  water's  edge, 
sank  before  the  flames  had  made  serious  headway  on 
her  lower  hull.  On  the  30th  of  May  she  was  raised, 
and  her  hull  and  engines  were  found  to  be  intact.  She 
was  then  placed  in  the  dry  dock,  and  her  upper  wood- 
works were  raised  to  the  level  of  the  berth  deck,  which 
was  three  and  a  half  feet  above  the  light  water  line. 
On  this  deck,  for  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  amid- 
ships, bulwarks  consisting  of  twenty  inches  of  pitch 
pine  covered  with  four  inches  of  oak,  and  sloping  at  an 
angle  of  thirty-five  degrees,  were  built,  meeting  the 
roof  seven  feet  above  the  deck.  Outside  of  this 
twenty-four  inches  of  solid  wood  backing  were  laid 
rolled-iron  plates  two  inches  thick  and  eight  inches 


1862.  BUILDING  THE   MERRIMAC.  221 

wide,  in  horizontal  courses,  and  over  this  again  were 
laid  similar  plates  running  up  and  down,  the  four 
inches  of  iron  being  bolted  through  with  If -inch  iron 
rivets,  which  were  secured  on  the  inside.  The  shot- 
proof  casemate  was  covered  with  a  light  grating  twenty 
feet  wide  and  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long, 
forming  the  promenade  deck.  Forward  of  the  smoke- 
stack was  the  pilot  house,  protected  by  the  same  thick- 
ness of  iron  as  the  sides.  Forward  and  aft  of  this 
gunroom  the  vessel's  hull  was  decked  over  so  as  to  be 
awash  when  in  fighting  trim,  and  attached  to  the  bow 
and  about  two  feet  under  water  was  a  cast-iron  ram 
projecting  some  distance  beyond  the  cutwater.  This 
formidable  craft  was  pierced  for  ten  guns,  the  ends  of 
the  gunroom  being  rounded  so  as  to  carry  7-inch  rifled 
guns,  which,  being  mounted  on  pivots,  could  be  fired 
abeam  or  in  the  keel  line  forward  and  aft.  The  broad- 
side armament  consisted  of  two  rifled  6-inch  guns  and 
six  9-inch  Dahlgren  guns.  The  four  rifled  guns  were 
heavily  re-enforced  by  3-inch  steel  bands  shrunk  around 
the  breech. 

This  novel  craft,  renamed  by  the  Confederates  Vir- 
ginia, was  built  after  a  model  made  by  John  L.  Porter, 
a  constructor  in  the  Confederate  navy,  which  was  sim- 
ilar to  some  rough  drawings  prepared  by  Lieutenant 
John  M.  Brooke,  formerly  of  the  United  States  navy. 
The  work  of  rebuilding  the  Merrimac  was  carried  on 
by  Constructor  Porter,  the  repairing  of  the  engines  was 
done  by  Chief-Engineer  William  P.  Williamson,  of  the 
Confederate  navy,  and  Lieutenant  Brooke  provided 
the  rolled-iron  plates  and  the  heavy  batteries.  The 
difficulties  of  rebuilding  the  Merrimac  were  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  lack  of  machinery  and  experienced 
laborers.  The  Confederacy  was  well  supplied  with 
engineers  and  officers  of  the  old  navy,  but  the  skilled 
mechanics  were  largely  in  the  North,  while  the  work- 
shops in  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard  had  been  almost  de- 
stroyed by  the  conflagration.  The  only  mills  in  the 


222  THE  MERRIMAC   IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

South  at  this  time  capable  of  rolling  the  plates  were 
the  Tredegar  works  at  Richmond. 

Such  being  the  extraordinary  difficulties  under 
which  the  builders  of  the  new  Merrimac  labored,  it  is 
surprising  that  their  designs  were  ever  realized.  Work 
on  the  formidable  craft,  however,  was  steadily  pushed  ; 
and  when,  toward  the  close  of  1861,  news  came  through 
the  lines  that  an  ironclad  vessel  was  being  built  at  New 
York,  it  stimulated  the  Confederates  to  redoubled  ef- 
forts. But,  in  spite  of  their  greatest  exertions,  it  was 
not  until  March,  1862,  that  the  new  Merrimac  ap- 
proached completion.  She  was  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Franklin  Buchanan,  recently  of  the 
United  States  navy,  who  had  a  naval  staff  of  officers, 
many  of  whom  had  been  in  the  old  service.  They 
were  Lieutenants  Catesby  ap  Rogers  Jones,  Charles 
C.  Simms,  Robert  D.  Minor,  Hunter  Davidson,  John 
Taylor  Wood,  John  R.  Eggleston,  Walter  R.  Butt; 
Midshipmen  R.  C.  Foute,  H.  H.  Marmaduke,  H.  B. 
Littlepage,  W.  J.  Craig,  J.  C.  Long  and  Thomas  R. 
Rootes ;  Paymaster  James  A.  Semple,  Surgeon  Din- 
widdie  B.  Phillips,  Assistant-Surgeon  Algernon  S.  Gar- 
nett,  Captain  of  Marines  Reuben  Thome,  Engineer 
Henry  A.  Ramsay,  Assistant  Engineers  John  W.  Tynan, 
Loudon  Campbell,  Benjamin  Herring,  Jack  and  Wright ; 
Boatswain  Charles  H.  Hasker,  Gunner  Charles  B.  Oliver, 
Carpenter  Hugh  Lindsay,  Clerk  Arthur  Sinclair,  Jr.  ; 
Volunteer- Aids  Lieutenant  Douglas  A.  Forrest  and 
Captain  Kevil,  of  the  infantry.  The  Merrimatfs  crew 
of  three  hundred  and  twenty  was  largely  made  up  of 
volunteers  from  the  army  around  Yorktown,  Richmond 
and  Petersburg. 

An  hour  before  noon  on  the  8th  of  March,  1862,  the 
Merrimac  cast  loose  from  her  moorings  in  Norfolk  and 
steamed  down  Elizabeth  River.  Up  to  the  last  moment 
she  was  crowded  with  mechanics,  coalers  and  laborers, 
many  of  whom  were  put  ashore  after  the  vessel  was 
well  under  way,  and  so  great  had  been  the  confusion 


1862.  THE   MERRIMAC'S  CONSORTS.  223 

and  haste  in  the  last  few  weeks  that  not  a  gun  had 
been  fired.  The  crew  had  not  been  exercised  even  in 
the  ordinary  duties  of  man-of-war's  men,  the  engines 
had  not  made  a  single  revolution,  the  officers  and  men 
were  strangers  to  each  other,  while  the  ship  itself  was 
a  bold  experiment,  a  complete  revolution  in  naval  war- 
fare, which  had  not  undergone  the  test  of  even  a  trial 
trip.  In  short,  the  people  of  the  Merrimac  were  about 
to  make  one  of  the  most  hazardous  experiments  in 
naval  warfare.  Captain  Buchanan  for  some  time  had 
been  suffering  from  nervous  prostration,  and  the  doc- 
tors had  pronounced  his  case  hopeless  ;  but,  undaunted 
by  the  great  risks  involved,  he  shipped  his  cables  and 
stood  down  the  river,  loudly  cheered  by  Confederate 
soldiers  who  lined  the  shores.  From  the  first  it  was 
seen  that  the  engines  were  unsatisfactory,  making  only 
five  knots  at  the  best,  while  the  great  length  of  the 
craft  and  her  twenty-two  feet  draught  made  her  ma- 
noeuvres in  the  narrow  channels  exceedingly  difficult 
and  limited. 

In  the  James  River  lay  the  Confederate  12-gun 
steamer  YorJctown,  Captain  John  R.  Tucker ;  the  2- 
gun  steamer  Jamestown,  Lieutenant-Commander  Jo- 
seph N.  Barney,  and  the  1-gun  river  tug  Teaser,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander William  A.  Webb,  ready  to  join 
the  Merrimac  in  the  attack  on  the  National  ships.  The 
YorMown  (or  Patrick  Henry)  was  partially  protected 
by  1-inch  iron  plates,  which  were  secured  abreast  of 
her  boilers,  and,  running  a  few  feet  forward  and  aft  of 
her  machinery,  extended  a  foot  or  two  below  the  water 
line.  Iron  shields  in  the  form  of  a  V  were  also  placed 
on  the  spar  deck  forward  and  aft  of  the  engines,  to 
afford  protection  from  raking  shot.  The  Merrimac 
was  escorted  down  Elizabeth  River  by  the  steamers 
Beaufort,  Lieutenant-Commander  William  H.  Parker, 
and  RaleigJi,  Lieutenant-Commander  Joseph  W.  Alex- 
ander, mounting  one  gun  each.  Leaving  the  Beaufort 
and  the  RaleigJi  at  SewelPs  Point,  Captain  Buchanan 


224  THE  MERRIMAC  IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

pushed  boldly  into  the  south  channel  alone,  and  headed 
for  Newport  News,  where  lay  the  United  States  50-gun 
frigate  Congress,  Lieutenant  Joseph  B.  Smith,  and  the 
24-gun  sloop  of  war  Cumberland,  Commander  William 
Radford,  anchored  in  fancied  security  under  the  guns 
of  the  Federal  batteries,  which  commanded  all  water 
communications  to  Richmond  by  way  of  James  River. 
It  was  of  great  importance  to  the  Southern  cause  that 
these  interruptions  to  their  communications  should  be 
removed.  Farther  down  Hampton  Roads,  off  Fort  Mon- 
roe, were  the  sailing  frigate  St.  Lawrence,  Captain  Hugh 
Young  Purviance,  and  the  steam  frigates  Roanoke  and 
Minnesota,  Captain  Gershom  Jaques  Van  Brunt,  the 
last  two  being  sister  ships  of  the  old  Merrimac. 

It  was  a  beautiful  spring  morning,  and  the  gentle 
sea  breeze  scarcely  rippled  the  waters  of  the  Roads. 
The  National  ships,  with  their  towering  masts,  swung 
lazily  at  their  anchors,  their  rigging  strung  with  dry- 
ing clothes.  Barges  and  cutters  rocked  gently  at  the 
booms,  while  officers  and  seamen  walked  quietly  about 
the  decks  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  duty  or  listlessly 
whiled  away  the  time  in  various  occupations.  On  shore 
the  same  feeling  of  security  and  ease  prevailed,  the 
soldiers  going  through  their  drills,  their  polished  bay- 
onets and  musket  barrels  glistening  in  the  bright  sun- 
light, while  others  were  busy  with  preparations  for  the 
midday  meal.  Everything  betokened  an  entire  absence 
of  fear  or  suspicion  of  danger.  Early  in  March  Com- 
mander William  Smith  had  been  detailed  from  the 
Congress,  and  although  he  had  turned  over  the  com- 
mand of  the  ship  to  his  executive  officer,  Lieutenant 
Joseph  B.  Smith,  he  was  still  aboard  waiting  for  a 
steamer  to  carry  him  North.  Observing  the  Merrimac, 
he  volunteered  his  services  while  the  frigate  was  in 
danger.  Commander  Radford,  of  the  Cumberland,  was 
attending  a  court  of  inquiry  in  the  Roanoke,  some 
miles  down  the  Roads,  leaving  Lieutenant  George 
Upham  Morris  in  charge  of  the  ship.  There  had  been 


18G2. 


A   PEACEFUL  SPRING   MORNING. 


225 


so  many  rumors  about  the  Merrimac  that  some  of  the 
National  officers  had  become  skeptical  of  her  prowess, 
and  anticipated  little  trouble  from  her. 


At  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  March  8th  the 
people  in  the  Union  ships  noticed  the  smoke  of  two 
steamers  over  the  woodl.mds  that  concealed  Elizabeth 
River  from  the  Cumberland's  lookout.  Two  hours 
later  a  trailing  line  of  smoke  lying  along  the  course  of 
the  river  indicated  the  approach  of  a  third  steamer,  and 
at  noon  the  three  Confederate  vessels  were  distinctly 
seen  from  the  decks  of  the  Cumberland  moving  down 
the  river  toward  Se well's  Point.  The  gunboat  Zouave, 
lying  alongside  the  Cumberland,  was  ordered  to  run 
down  to  Pig  Point  and  ascertain  who  the  strangers 

60 


226  THE  MERRIMAC  IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

were.  When  the  Zouave  had  proceeded  about  two 
miles  on  her  mission  her  officers  saw  what  looked  to 
them  like  the  roof  of  a  large  barn  belching  forth  smoke 
from  a  chimney,  and  they  were  somewhat  mystified  as 
to  what  it  could  be.  It  was  decided  finally  that  it  was 
the  Merrimac,  and  the  32-pounder  Parrott  gun  of  the 
Zouave  was  trained  on  the  stranger  and  six  shot  were 
fired  at  her ;  but  the  enemy  took  no  notice  of  this,  and 
the  Zouave  was  recalled  to  the  Cumberland.  A  little 
before  one  o'clock  the  Merrimac  emerged  from  the 
river,  and  came  in  full  view  of  the  National  ships. 

The  peaceful  scene  in  the  Roads  was  speedily  trans- 
formed into  one  of  hurried  preparation  for  battle.  The 
soldiers  on  land  paused  in  their  several  occupations  to 
gaze  at  the  novel  craft  in  astonishment  and  curiosity 
until  the  sharp  call  to  arms  sent  them  to  their  batteries. 
On  board  the  men-of-war,  the  shrill  piping  of  the  boat- 
swain's whistle  mingling  with  the  rapid  orders  of  offi- 
cers indicated  a  scene  of  unwonted  activity.  The  rig- 
gings were  quickly  cleared  of  the  "wash,"  boats  were 
dropped  astern,  booms  swung  alongside,  decks  cleared 
for  action,  magazines  opened,  extra  sentinels  stationed, 
ammunition  piled  in  symmetrical  rows  on  deck  and 
the  guns  loaded,  while  down  in  the  cockpit  tables  were 
cleared  and  bandages  arranged  in  convenient  reach,  and 
the  surgeons  polished  their  glittering  instruments  and 
awaited  their  duties  in  grim  silence. 

All  this  time  the  Merrimac,  with  her  ports  closed, 
well  in  advance  of  her  escorts,  had  been  steadily  mov- 
ing toward  the  Congress  and  the  Cumberland,  and  by 
one  o'clock  she  was  within  long  range.  About  this 
time  the  Cumberland  opened  with  her  heavy  pivot 
guns,  which  were  shortly  followed  by  those  of  the  Con- 
gress and  the  shore  batteries,  but  the  huge  projectiles 
glanced  harmlessly  from  the  iron  mail  of  the  leviathan, 
while  on  she  came  in  majestic  silence.  About  half  past 
two  o'clock,  when  within  easy  range,  the  Merrimac 
opened  her  bow  port  and  fired  her  7-inch  rifled  gun, 


1862.  BROTHER  AGAINST   BROTHER.  227 

which  was  aimed  by  Lieutenant  Simms.  The  shot 
hulled  the  Cumberland's  quarter,  and  killed  or  wound- 
ed most  of  the  crew  of  her  after  pivot  gun.  Both  Na- 
tional ships,  now  only  a  hundred  yards  distant  from  the 
Merrimac,  delivered  full  broadsides  from  their  power- 
ful batteries,  which  would  have  blown  any  wooden  craft 
out  of  the  water ;  but  the  storm  of  iron  glanced  from 
the  Merrimatfs  plating  with  no  more  effect  than  so 
many  pebbles.  Franklin  Buchanan  had  a  brother  in 
the  Congress—  Paymaster  McKean  Buchanan — but  this 
did  not  deter  him  from  his  purpose  of  destruction.  He 
returned  the  fire  of  the  National  ships  deliberately  and 
with  deadly  effect  from  his  bow  gun,  and  when  near 
enough  the  four  starboard  ports  of  the  Merrimac  were 
raised,  four  black  muzzles  were  run  out,  four  long 
tongues  of  flame  leapt  from  her  side,  and  four  shells 
crashed  into  the  wooden  hull  of  the  Congress.  Not 
waiting  to  repeat  this  terrible  blow,  Buchanan  kept 
steadily  on  under  full  head  of  steam  for  the  helpless 
Cumberland,  with  a  view  of  testing  the  power  of  his 
ram.  The  iron  prow  of  the  Merrimac  struck  the  Cum- 
berland nearly  at  right  angles  under  the  fore  rigging 
in  the  starboard  fore  channels.  The  shock  was  scarcely 
felt  in  the  ironclad,  but  in  the  Cumberland  it  was  ter- 
rific. The  ship  heeled  over  to  port  and  trembled  as  if 
she  had  struck  a  rock  under  full  sail,  while  the  iron 
prow  of  the  Merrimac  crushed  through  her  side  and 
left  a  yawning  chasm.  In  backing  out  of  the  Cumber- 
land, the  Merrimac  left  her  iron  prow  inside  the 
doomed  ship.  Following  up  the  blow  by  the  discharge 
of  her  bow  gun,  she  backed  clear  of  the  wreck.  In  re- 
sponse to  a  demand  for  surrender,  Lieutenant  Morris 
defiantly  answered,  "Never !  I'll  sink  alongside."  For 
three  quarters  of  an  hour  the  Merrimac  and  her  con- 
sorts concentrated  their  fire  on  the  doomed  Cumber- 
land, and  the  Confederate  gunboats  YorMown,  James- 
town and  Teaser  came  down  from  James  River  and 
joined  in  the  attack. 


228  THE  MERRIMAC  IN   HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

The  National  commanders  now  realized  the  hope- 
lessness of  the  struggle,  but,  with  that  indomitable 
heroism  which  has  ever  characterized  the  American 
seaman,  they  prepared  to  fight  to  the  last  plank  rather 
than  permit  the  enemy  to  secure  the  ships.  Many  of 
the  men  stripped  to  the  waist,  took  off  their  shoes  and 
hoisted  tank  after  tank  of  cartridges  on  deck  so  that 
the  water  could  not  cut  them  off  from  their  ammuni- 
tion. The  scene  in  the  Cumberland  soon  became  awful. 
One  shell,  bursting  in  the  sick  bay,  killed  or  wounded 
four  men  in  their  cots.  More  than  a  hundred  of  the 
crew  very  soon  were  killed  or  wounded,  the  cockpit 
was  crowded,  the  decks  were  slippery  with  blood  and 
were  strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying,  while  the  inrush- 
ing  waters  and  the  rapid  settling  of  the  ship  too  plainly 
indicated  that  she  would  soon  go  to  the  bottom.  In 
order  to  prevent  the  helpless  wounded  on  the  berth 
deck  from  being  drowned,  they  were  lifted  up  on  racks 
and  mess  chests,  and  as  the  ship  settled  more  and  more 
they  were  removed  from  this  temporary  refuge  and 
carried  on  deck  and  placed  amidship.  This  was  all 
that  their  shipmates  could  do  for  them,  and  when  the 
ship  finally  went  down  they  perished  in  her.  The  heroic 
commander  of  the  Cumberland  maintained  the  fight 
with  superb  gallantry.  It  was  not  long  before  the  ad- 
vancing water  drove  his  men  from  the  guns  on  the 
lower  deck,  but  they  immediately  manned  the  upper 
batteries  and  renewed  the  unequal  struggle.  The  red 
flag  "No  quarter"  was  run  up  at  the  fore,  as  it  was  re- 
solved to  sink  with  the  ship  rather  than  let  her  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  As  soon  as  possible 
boats  were  lowered  and  made  fast  to  a  line  on  the  shore 
side,  but  the  ship  was  settling  perceptibly.  All  this 
time  the  guns  of  the  Cumberland  were  trained  and  fired 
at  the  enemy  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  a  man  in  the 
Merrimac  who  ventured  outside  of  the  casemate  was 
cut  in  two.  At  half  past  three  o'clock  the  forward 
magazine  in  the  Cumberland  was  flooded,  and  the 


1862.  ATTACK   ON  THE  CONGRESS.  229 

water  had  reached  the  gun  deck  and  was  creeping 
around  the  gun  carriages,  when  five  minutes  later  the 
order  was  given  for  every  one  to  save  himself.  The 
ship  listed  heavily  to  port  and  went  down  amid  a  roar 
of  escaping  air.  The  colors  at  the  gaff  were  dragged 
beneath  the  water  as  the  ship  settled  on  the  bottom, 
but  the  other  ensigns  at  the  mastheads  were  still  visi- 
ble, reaching  a  few  feet  above  the  water.  "No  ship," 
said  Lieutenant  Wood,  of  the  Herrimac,  "was  ever 
fought  more  gallantly." 

After  ramming  the  Cumberland,  the  Merrimac 
stood  up  the  channel  with  a  view  of  turning  round 
and  attacking  the  Congress.  During  the  thirty-five 
minutes  required  for  turning  she  maintained  a  fire  on 
both  ships.  Three  times  she  raked  the  Congress  from 
stem  to  stern  with  7-inch  shell.  Seeing  the  hopeless- 
ness of  the  struggle,  and  observing  that  the  ironclad 
was  preparing  to  ram  his  ship,  Lieutenant  Smith 
slipped  his  cables,  set  his  fore  topsail  and  jib,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  gunboat  Zouave  ran  ashore  under 
the  National  batteries,  where  the  shoal  water  would 
not  allow  the  Merrimac  to  follow. 

The  Merrimac,  at  3.40  P.  M.,  accompanied  by  her 
consorts,  approached  the  Congress.  After  some  ma- 
noeuvring she  secured  a  position  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  yards,  where  she  could  rake  the 
Congress  with  her  entire  broadside,  to  which  the  Con- 
gress could  not  reply  except  with  her  two  stern  chasers. 
The  murderous  shells  tore  through  the  frigate  with 
horrible  effect.  Lieutenant  Smith  was  soon  killed,  but 
still  the  heroic  crew  fought  on  against  tremendous  odds, 
while  the  blood  running  out  of  her  scuppers  spattered 
the  decks  of  the  gunboat  Zouave,  which  was  lying 
alongside.  The  gunboats  Raleigh  and  Beaufort,  tak- 
ing advantageous  positions,  also  poured  in  a  heavy  fire. 
But  in  spite  of  the  fearful  condition  of  the  ship  and 
the  terrible  losses  she  had  sustained,  Lieutenant  Pen- 
dergrast,  upon  whom  the  command  had  devolved,  main- 


230  THE   MERRIMAC   IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

tained  the  unequal  contest  for  more  than  an  hour  after 
the  sinking  of  the  Cumberland,  and  did  not  surrender 
until  one  of  his  two  stern  guns  had  been  dismounted 
and  the  muzzle  of  the  other  was  knocked  off.  By  this 
time  fire  had  broken  out  in  several  places  in  the  ship. 
At  4.40  P.  M.  the  Congress  lowered  her  colors  and  dis- 
played a  white  flag,  upon  which  the  gunboats  Beaufort 
and  Raleigh  ran  alongside  to  take  off  her  crew  and  fire 
the  ship. 

Not  understanding  the  situation,  the  shore  batteries 
opened  a  hot  fire  of  cannon  and  small  arms,  which  com- 
pelled the  steamers  to  haul  off  with  only  thirty  prison- 
ers and  the  colors  of  the  Congress.  This  flag  was  rolled 
up  and  taken  to  Richmond,  and  three  days  afterward, 
when  it  was  unrolled  in  the  presence  of  Jefferson  Davis 
and  several  of  his  Cabinet  officers,  it  was  found  to  be 
saturated  with  blood  in  several  places.  It  was  hastily 
rolled  up  and  sent  to  the  Navy  Department,  where  it 
was  probably  destroyed  when  that  building  was  burned 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  The  Teaser  also  was  driven 
off  in  an  attempt  to  burn  the  Congress.  This  fire  not 
only  killed  Lieutenant  Tayloe  and  wounded  Lieutenant 
Hutter  of  the  Raleigh,  who  were  assisting  the  wound- 
ed out  of  the  frigate,  but  also  injured  some  of  the 
people  in  the  Congress.  The  remainder  of  the  Na- 
tional crew  endeavored  to  escape  to  the  shore  by  swim- 
ming or  in  boats.  Observing  this,  the  enemy  opened 
with  hot  shot,  and  soon  had  the  ship  in  flames,  and 
she  burned  all  that  afternoon  and  far  into  the  night. 
About  this  time  a  rifle  ball  from  the  shore  struck  Bu- 
chanan and  Flag-Lieutenant  Minor,  so  that  the  com- 
mand of  the  Merrimac  devolved  on  Lieutenant  Jones. 
When  the  news  of  the  loss  of  the  Cumberland  and  the 
Congress  reached  Washington,  Sunday  morning,  Cap- 
tain Joseph  Smith,  father  of  the  commander  of  the 
Congress,  was  attending  church.  After  the  service 
was  over  Secretary  Welles  informed  him  that  the  Cum- 
berland had  been  sunk  and  the  Congress  had  surren- 


1862.  TREACHERY  OF  A  PILOT.  231 

dered.  "What!"  exclaimed  the  veteran,  "the  Con- 
gress surrendered?  Then  Joe  is  dead."  The  Secretary 
reassured  the  veteran  by  saying  that  the  casualties 
were  as  yet  unknown,  but  the  heartbroken  commodore 
replied  :  "  Oh,  no  ;  you  don't  know  Joe  as  I  do.  He'd 
never  surrender  his  ship."  1 

While  this  spirited  fight  was  going  on,  the  frigates 
Minnesota,  RoanoTce  and  St.  Lawrence,  which  had 
been  lying  at  Fort  Monroe,  seven  miles  below,  got  un- 
der sail,  and  with  the  assistance  of  tugboats  set  out 
for  the  scene  of  action.  The  Minnesota  was  the  first 
to  get  under  way,  and,  running  past  a  brisk  fire  from 
the  battery  at  Sewell's  Point,  hastened  upstream,  but 
when  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  scene  of  action 
she  grounded.  Why  this  ship,  with  one  of  Norfolk's 
best  pilots  in  charge  of  her,  should  have  run  upon  a 
well-known  shoal  at  such  a  critical  moment  may  well 
excite  suspicion  of  treachery,  and  a  deeper  investiga- 
tion reveals  it.  On  the  declaration  of  Mr.  Mallory,  the 
Confederate  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  it  is  learned  that 
"  the  pilot  of  the  Minnesota,  although  bound  by  an 
oath  of  fealty  to  the  United  States,  was  also  under 
sworn  allegiance  to  the  Confederacy  and  in  the  service 
and  pay  of  its  Department  of  Marine,  and  the  strand- 
ing of  that  ship  was  in  obedience  to  instructions  from 
the  office  in  Richmond,  where  information  of  the  dis- 
aster was  received  in  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes  after 
its  occurrence."  The  pilot  was  discharged  from  the 
United  States  service  April  19,  1862,  and  immediately 
on  his  arrival  at  Norfolk  he  was  appointed  second  pilot 
in  the  Merrimac.  The  RoanoJce  and  the  St.  Lawrence 
also  grounded  a  little  above  Fort  Monroe. 

Having  completed  the  destruction  of  the  Cumber- 
land and  the  Congress,  the  Merrimac,  at  five  o'clock 

1  Joseph  B.  Smith  entered  the  navy  as  a  midshipman  October  19. 1841. 
Going  through  the  usual  routine  of  a  young  naval  officer,  he  became  passed 
midshipman.  August  10,  1847;  master,  August  22,  1855;  and  lieutenant, 
September  14,  1855. 


232  THE  MERRIMAC  IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

in  the  afternoon,  turned  her  attention  to  the  stranded 
Minnesota,  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Roanolce.  For- 
tunately, the  water  in  the  north  channel  at  that  time 
was  so  low  that  the  ram  was  compelled  to  take  the 
south  channel  and  attack  the  frigates  from  that  quar- 
ter. This  placed  the  middle  ground  between  her  and 
the  ships,  so  that  she  could  not  approach  nearer  than  a 
mile  until  high  tide.  At  this  long  range  the  ironclad 
opened  fire,  but  only  one  shot  struck,  and  that  passed 
through  the  bow.  The  light-draught  consorts  of  the 
Merrimac  took  a  position  at  easy  range,  where  the 
Minnesota  could  bring  but  one  heavy  gun  against 
them,  and  before  they  were  driven  off  they  had  in- 
flicted serious  injury.  One  of  their  heavy  shells 
"passed  through  the  chief  engineer's  stateroom,  cross- 
ing and  tearing  up  the  deck  over  the  cockpit,  and 
striking  the  clamp  and  knee  in  the  carpenter's  state- 
room, where  it  exploded,  carrying  away  the  beam 
clamp  and  knee,  and  completely  demolishing  the  bulk- 
heads, setting  fire  to  them  and  ripping  up  the  deck."  * 
Two  shells  passed  through  a  port,  carried  away  the 
planking  and  timbers,  and  splintered  several  beams 
and  casings.  Another  shell  passed  through  the  main- 
mast about  fourteen  feet  above  the  deck,  cut  away  one 
third  of  the  mast,  and  parted  some  of  the  iron  bands. 
Another  shot  passed  through  the  hammock  netting 
abaft  the  main  rigging,  striking  the  spar  deck  on  the 
starboard  side,  cutting  through  four  planks,  then,  ric- 
ochetting,  carried  away  the  truck  and  axle  of  a  gun 
carriage  and  injured  the  water-ways. 

For  about  an  hour  and  a  half  this  unequal  combat 
was  kept  up,  the  Minnesota  using  her  10-inch  guns 
against  the  ironclad,  while  her  single  stern  chaser 
played  on  the  mischievous  gunboats.  It  is  doubtful 
if  Captain  Van  Brunt  could  have  held  out  long  under 
the  dreadful  fire  of  heavy  shells  that  was  steadily  and 

1  Official  report  of  the  carpenter. 


18G2.  PERIL   OF  THE  ST.   LAWRENCE.  233 

deliberately  rained  upon  him  at  this  range.  At  6.30 
p.  M.  the  St.  Lawrence  was  floated  off,  and  in  tow  of 
the  tugboat  Cambridge  was  brought  into  range,  but 
while  still  half  a  mile  from  the  combatants  she  again 
grounded.  Her  approach,  however,  relieved  the  Min- 
nesota of  the  distressing  fire  of  the  Confederate  gun- 
boats. The  St.  Lawrence  then  discharged  several 
broadsides  at  the  Merrimac,  but  with  no  effect.  In 
return  she  received  a  heavy  shell  that  penetrated  the1 
starboard  quarter  about  four  inches  above  the  water 
line,  passed  through  the  pantry  of  the  wardroom  and 
into  the  stateroom  of  the  assistant  surgeon  on  the  port 
side,  completely  demolished  the  bulkhead,  and  then 
struck  a  strong  iron  bar  that  secured  the  bull's-eye  of 
the  port.  It  then  bounded  into  the  wardroom,  where 
it  was  spent.  Fortunately  it  did  not  explode,  and  no 
person  was  injured.  It  was  now  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  and  was  so  dark  that  the  pilots  refused  to 
keep  the  Merrimac  longer  in  her  present  position,  as 
the  fast  ebbing  tide  threatened  to  leave  her  aground. 
Accordingly,  her  head  was  turned  toward  Sewell's 
Point,  and  shortly  afterward  she  anchored  there  with 
her  consorts  for  the  night,  intending  to  renew  the  work 
of  destruction  on  the  following  morning. 

Thus  ended  the  most  disastrous  day  in  the  career  of 
the  United  States  navy.  Of  her  crew  of  four  hundred 
and  thirty-four  men,  the  Congress  had  one  hundred 
and  thirty  killed  or  drowned,  including  her  commander, 
and  a  large  number  of  wounded,  and  thirty  taken  pris- 
oners. The  Cumberland,  with  a  crew  of  three  hundred 
and  seventy-six,  had  one  hundred  and  twenty  killed  or 
drowned,  and  a  large  number  of  those  wTho  escaped  to 
the  shore  were  wounded.  On  the  part  of  the  enemy, 
two  were  killed  in  the  Merrimac,  and  eight,  including 
Captain  Buchanan,  were  wounded.  The  total  loss  of 
the  Confederates,  including  the  gunboats,  was  twenty- 
one  killed  or  wounded.  Although  the  Merrimac  had 
been  the  target  for  more  than  one  hundred  heavy  guns, 


234  THE  MERRIMAO  IN  HAMPTON  ROADS.  1862. 

her  casemate  had  not  been  materially  injured.  But 
everything  exposed  was  swept  away.  Her  flagstaff  had 
been  repeatedly  shot  away,  and  her  colors  were  several 
times  fastened  to  the  smokestack,  but  only  to  be  car- 
ried away  again.  The  flag  was  finally  fastened  to  a 
boarding  pike.  Stanchions,  railings,  davits,  steam 
pipes  and  boats  had  been  demolished,  while  two  of  the 
broadside  guns  had  been  disabled  by  having  their  muz- 
zles shot  away.  Further  than  this  she  was  as  danger- 
ous as  ever,  and  only  awaited  the  return  of  daylight 
and  tide  to  complete  the  destruction  of  the  wooden 
vessels  in  the  Roads. 

The  disastrous  results  of  this  day's  fight  spread  the 
profoundest  gloom  over  the  North,  and  caused  corre- 
sponding rejoicing  in  the  South.  Extraordinary  meas- 
ures for  protecting  Northern  ports  were  suggested,  for 
the  appearance  of  the  "  terrible  monster"  was  momen- 
tarily expected  at  all  the  seaports.  Anything  strange 
or  abnormal  pertaining  to  the  sea  is  peculiarly  liable  to 
the  wildest  exaggeration  among  the  average  landsmen. 
The  Merrimac  certainly  was  a  "new  fish"  in  naval 
architecture,  and  she  had  proved  her  terrible  power. 
It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  immediately  following  the 
announcement  of  the  disaster  of  March  8th  the  wildest 
reports  found  credence.  The  scuttling  of  the  noble 
frigate  St.  Lawrence,  so  as  to  obstruct  the  channel  of 
the  Potomac,  was  seriously  considered,  while  the  only 
measure  proposed  possessing  the  elements  of  success 
was  considered  a  prodigious  joke :  this  was  stretching 
a  huge  fish  net  across  the  Potomac  so  as  to  entangle 
the  Merrimac's  propeller.  The  President  called  a 
special  meeting  of  the  Cabinet,  and  the  fear  was  freely 
expressed  that  the  whole  character  of  the  war  was 
changed.  The  proposed  peninsular  campaign  was  ren- 
dered impracticable  if  the  base  of  operations  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Merrimac,  and  the  blockade  of  the  most 
important  Southern  port  would  be  raised.  Nothing 
now,  in  the  opinion  of  all,  could  prevent  the  iron  mon- 


1862.  GLOOM  IN  THE  NORTH.  235 

ster  from  destroying  all  the  ships  in  Hampton  Roads, 
making  her  way  up  the  Potomac,  and  laying  Wash- 
ington in  ashes.  Then,  after  raising  the  blockade  of 
other  Southern  ports,  she  would  turn  northward  and 
lay  the  great  seaports  under  enormous  contribution. 
This  done,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  England  and 
France  would  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the 
Confederate  States.  Such  were  the  hopes  of  the  Mer- 
rimad's  people  as  they  rested  that  night  off  SewelPs 
Point  and  dreamed  of  easy  victory  on  the  morrow. 
Such  were  the  fears  of  the  loyal  sailors  as  with  dread 
and  agony  they  awaited  the  renewal  of  the  bloody 
scene.  Nothing  but  an  act  of  Providence  could  save 
them.  And  that  act  of  Providence  was  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BUILDING  THE   MONITOR. 

ON  October  4,  1861,  four  months  after  the  raising  of 
the  Merrimac  at  Norfolk,  the  Government  entered 
into  a  contract  with  John  Ericsson,  of  New  York,  for 
the  construction  of  a  war  vessel  of  such  type  as  the 
world  had  never  seen  and  few  had  ever  dreamed  of. 
An  iron-plated  raft  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  feet 
over  all,  forty-one  and  a  half  feet  beam  and  eleven  and 
one-third  feet  depth  of  hold,  and  a  revolving  iron  turret 
containing  two  11-inch  Dahlgren  guns,  were  the  strik- 
ing features  of  this  novel  craft.  As  less  than  two  feet 
of  the  hull  was  to  appear  above  water,  the  target  sur- 
face was  reduced  to  a  minimum  ;  and  as  a  further  se- 
curity, this  surface  was  plated  with  five  layers  of  iron, 
each -of  which  was  one  inch  thick,  while  the  deck  was 
protected  by  two  layers  of  half-inch  plates.  The  tur- 
ret, twenty  feet  in  diameter,  inside  measurement,  and 
nine  feet  high,  was  built  of  eight  layers  of  one-inch 
iron  plates ;  and  the  roof  was  protected  by  railroad 
iron,  while  the  propeller  and  the  rudder  at  the  stern 
and  the  anchor  at  the  bow  were  protected  by  the  over- 
hang of  the  deck.  The  pilot  house  on  deck  forward 
was  made  of  massive  bars  of  iron,  and  a  movable  iron 
plate,  an  inch  and  a  half  thick,  covered  the  top  of  it. 

The  idea  of  such  a  war  ship  was  suggested  to  John 
Ericsson  nearly  half  a  century  before,  by  observing 
the  motions  of  the  lumber  rafts  on  the  lakes  in  Sweden. 
He  wrote  to  Gustavus  Vasa  Fox,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  under  date  of  October  5,  1875  :  "  I  found 
that  while  the  raftsman  in  his  elevated  cabin  experi- 

236 


1861.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MONITOR  IDEA.  237 

enced  very  little  motion,  the  seas  breaking  over  his 
nearly  submerged  craft,  these  seas  at  the  same  time 
worked  the  sailing  vessels  nearly  on  their  beam  ends." 
Ericsson's  enmity  for  Russia,  the  old-time  enemy  of 
his  native  land,  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  mo- 
tive in  developing  and  perfecting  this  raft  idea  of  naval 
warfare,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the 
northern  empire  and  the  Franco- Anglican  alliance  he 
sent  the  plan  of  a  monitor,  in  1854,  to  the  Emperor  of 
the  French.  Napoleon  III  was  not  much  impressed 
with  the  scheme,  and  wrote  :  "I  have  found  your  ideas 
very  ingenious  and  worthy  of  the  celebrated  name  of 
their  author,  but  I  think  the  results  to  be  obtained 
would  not  be  proportionate  to  the  expenses  or  to  the 
small  number  of  guns  which  could  be  brought  into 
use."  Napoleon  III  prided  himself  upon  his  knowl- 
edge of  artillery ;  but  when  he  saw  how  badly  his 
cruisers  fared  in  the  Black  Sea,  and  how  the  Russian 
squadron  was  able  to  steam  into  Sinope  and  destroy 
the  Turkish  fleet,  he  was  greatly  chagrined,  and,  says 
William  Conant  Church :  "  If  he  did  not  take  Ericsson's 
plan,  he  certainly  adopted  the  suggestion  of  armor  de- 
fense, and  built  five  armor-clads,  England  following  in 
humble  imitation  with  an  equal  number  on  the  same 
general  plan." 

On  the  8th  of  August,  1861,  a  naval  board,  consist- 
ing of  the  veteran  Captains  Joseph  Smith  and  Hiram 
Paulding  and  Commander  Charles  Henry  Davis,  was 
appointed  by  President  Lincoln  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
amining plans  for  ironclad  vessels.  Among  the  hun- 
dreds of  novel  suggestions  laid  before  this  board  was 
the  plan,  in  a  modified  form,  that  Napoleon  III  had 
rejected.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  Ericsson 
perfected  a  few  details  of  this  craft  and  forwarded  it 
to  Washington  in  the  care  of  C.  S.  Bushnell,  of  New 
Haven,  Conn.  "  I  succeeded  at  length,"  said  Mr.  Bush- 
nell, "in  getting  Captains  Smith  and  Paulding  to  prom- 
ise to  sign  a  report  advising  the  building  of  one  trial 


238  BUILDING  THE  MONITOR.  1861. 

battery,  provided  Captain  Davis  would  join  with  them. 
On  going  to  him  I  was  informed  that  I  might  '  take  the 
little  thing  home  and  worship  it,  as  it  would  not  be 
idolatry,  because  it  was  in  the  image  of  nothing  in  the 
heaven  above,  or  on  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the  waters 
under  the  earth.'" 

The  idea  of  a  turret  had  been  suggested  before 
Ericsson's  Monitor.  Theodore  Ruggles  Timby,  in  1841, 
planned  a  system  of  coast  defense  based  upon  the 
idea  of  a  revolving  turret,  either  on  land  or  afloat,  and 
in  1859  Captain  Coles,  of  the  British  navy,  perfected  a 
revolving  cupola  on  a  vessel  in  the  form  of  a  raft,  but 
it  was  never  properly  tested.  Three  types  of  armored 
vessels  were  finally  recommended  by  the  naval  board 
for  adoption  —  the  floating  battery  Ironsides,  the 
Galena  and  the  Monitor.  In  recommending  the  last 
type  the  members  of  the  board  exhibited  a  courage 
seldom  equaled  in  naval  history.  The  weight  of  pro- 
fessional experience  and  prejudice  was  against  them. 
The  most  advanced  naval  constructors  of  that  day,  the 
French,  had  recently  rejected  the  Monitor.  Ericsson 
himself,  although  one  of  the  most  brilliant  engineers 
of  the  age,  had  been  the  inventor  of  some,  notable  fail- 
ures— from  a  practical  point  of  view,  though  all  were 
valuable  to  science.  The  naval  bureaus  for  many  years 
had  been  strongly  prejudiced  against  him,  and  had  un- 
justly associated  with  him  the  bursting  of  the  Prince- 
torts  12-inch  gun,  February  28,  1844,  by  which  the 
Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Captain 
Beverly  Kennon  and  Colonel  Gardiner,  of  Gardiner's 
Island  fame,  had  been  killed.  It  required  bold  men  to 
advocate  the  Monitor  idea  in  the  face  of  such  circum- 
stances. If  the  craft  was  successful,  the  glory  would 
go  to  the  inventor  ;  if  a  failure,  the  full  weight  of  odium 
would  fall  on  the  men  who  recommended  it.  They 
were  responsible  men,  who  had  spent  a  lifetime  in 
studying  the  science  of  naval  warfare.  The  hundreds 
oMnventions  brought  before  them  for  consideration 


1801.  DOUBTS  ABOUT  THE  MONITOR.  239 

were  largely  the  products  of  irresponsible  men,  whose 
only  object  was  that  of  getting  contracts  out  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Joseph  Smith,  Hiram  Paulding  and  Charles 
H.  Davis  wagered  a  lifetime  of  brilliant  service  when 
they  selected  Ericsson's  plan  and  gave  their  signatures 
to  it.  Ericsson  wrote,  "A  more  prompt  and  spirited 
action  is  probably  not  on  record  in  a  similar  case  than 
that  of  the  Navy  Department  as  regards  the  Monitor  "  ; 
and  Ericsson's  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  English 
Admiralty  and  the  French  Department  of  the  Marine 
eminently  qualified  him  as  a  judge  in  this  particular. 
"Go  ahead  !"  was  the  order  the  inventor  received,  and 
while  the  contract  was  being  drawn  up  at  Washington 
the  keel-plate  of  the  Monitor  was  being  run  through 
the  rolling-mill  in  New  York. 

Some  idea  of  the  great  responsibility  resting  on  the 
naval  board  in  recommending  Ericsson's  plan  can  be 
gained  by  the  doubts  and  sneers  from  men  high  in  the 
profession.  One  of  the  first  objections  urged  against 
the  Monitor  was  that  the  concussion  of  such  great  guns 
in  the  confined  space  of  the  turret  would  be  greater 
than  the  gunners  could  endure  ;  but  Ericsson's  ex- 
perience in  firing  heavy  guns  from  little  huts  while  he 
was  an  officer  in  the  Swedish  army  had  demonstrated 
that,  if  the  muzzles  protruded  from  the  turret,  the  con- 
cussion would  be  inconsiderable.  Naval  experts  be- 
sieged the  board  with  calculations  showing  that  the 
Monitor  would  not  float  with  the  amount  of  iron  that 
was  to  be  placed  on  her.  Even  the  builders  of  the 
strange  craft  took  the  precaution  of  constructing 
wooden  tanks  to  buoy  up  her  stern  when  she  was 
launched,  lest  she  should  plunge  and  stay  under  water. 
"Even  if  the  ridiculous  structure  does  float,"  said  the 
experts,  "she  is  top-heavy  and  will  promptly  capsize." 
Misgivings  as  to  her  stability,  "on  account  of  the  ab- 
rupt termination  of  the  iron  raft  to  the  wooden  vessel," 
were  even  in  the  minds  of  the  naval  board  after  it  had 
sanctioned  the  building  of  the  craft,  and  it  was  sug- 


240  BUILDING  THE  MONITOR.  1861. 

gesfced  that  the  angles  be  filled  in  with  wood.  "But," 
added  the  board,  "if  the  whole  thing  is  a  failure  this 
will  be  of  little  consequence."  It  was  even  suggested 
that  some  of  the  essential  features  of  the  Monitor  be 
sacrificed  in  order  to  "  save  her  from  the  possibility  of 
failure."  It  was  urged  that  in  a  heavy  sea  one  side  of 
the  vessel  would  rise  out  of  the  water,  or  the  sea  recede 
from  it,  and  the  wooden  hull  underneath  the  iron  raft 
would  strike  the  water  with  such  force  when  it  came 
down  as  to  knock  the  people  on  board  off  their  feet. 
Others  were  confident  that  in  heavy  weather  the  over- 
hang at  the  bow  and  stern  would  slap  down  on  waves 
with  such  force  as  to  rip  it  off  the  hull  below ;  and 
some  were  confident  that  the  iron  plating  would  settle 
the  sides  of  the  wooden  vessel  so  that  her  deck  would 
become  curved  and  finally  break. 

The  best-grounded  objections  to  the  new  craft  were 
to  the  confined  quarters  of  the  officers  and  crew,  many 
predicting  that  in  heavy  weather  they  would  be  smoth- 
ered by  possible  defects  in  the  ventilation  or  escaping 
gas  from  the  engine  fires.  Sailors,  like  other  people, 
object  to  being  buried  before  they  are  dead,  and  the 
quarters  of  the  Monitor  were  unpleasantly  suggestive 
of  Davy  Jones'  locker.  To  be  stowed  away  for  days 
in  an  iron  box  under  water,  with  artificial  light  and 
ventilation,  with  no  place  for  exercise  and  with  little 
chance  for  throwing  off  the  accumulating  smells  of  a 
kitchen,  engine  room,  mess  room  and  sleeping  quarters, 
is  too  much  like  death  to  make  life  worth  living.  It 
is  possible  to  pack  machinery  away  like  this,  and  in 
machinery  Ericsson  had  no  equal;  but  when  he  en- 
deavored to  treat  human  beings  in  the  same  way  he 
met  the  serious  defect  in  his  Monitor  system.  Cap- 
tain Smith  saw  this,  and  suggested  that  a  temporary 
house  be  built  on  the  deck  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
officers  and  crew.  This  suggestion  was  followed  out  in 
several  instances,  the  Winnebago  at  the  battle  of  Mo- 
bile Bay  having  a  large  wooden  structure  on  her  deck ; 


1861.  ON   A  TRIAL  TRIP.  241 

but  lack  of  time  and  the  prospect  of  an  early  battle 
made  it  impracticable  to  carry  it  out  in  the  case  of  the 
Monitor. 

In  the  light  of  the  present  day  these  many  doubts 
and  misgivings  relative  to  the  Monitor  may  seem  child- 
ish ;  but  at  that  time  the  experiment  had  not  been 
made,  and  the  criticisms  were  eminently  pertinent  and 
showed  the  intelligence  of  the  critics.  It  is  common 
to .  ridicule  the  doubts  and  distrusts  arising  in  the 
minds  of  people  of  past  generations  when  some  new 
invention,  such  as  a  steamboat,  a  railroad  or  an  elec- 
tric machine,  first  came  in  vogue  :  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  equal  distrust  would  arise  in  the  minds  of  the 
present  generation  should  some  equally  radical  inven- 
tion be  brought  to  our  notice. 

The  keel  of  the  Monitor  was  laid  in  the  shipyard 
of  Thomas  F.  Rowland,  Continental  Iron  Works, 
Greenpoint,  Long  Island,  on  the  25th  of  October,  1861. 
In  order  to  test  the  confidence  of  the  builders  in  the 
new  vessel,  a  clause  in  the  contract  stipulated  that 
"  the  money  was  to  be  refunded  to  the  Government  if 
the  ironclad  proved  to  be  a  failure."  On  the  30th  of 
January,  1862,  or  in  one  hundred  days,  the  ironclad 
was  launched.  This  was  a  most  extraordinary  feat  in 
naval  construction,  the  building  of  a  war  vessel  in  six 
months  at  that  time  being  considered  almost  an  im- 
possibility. On  the  19th  of  February  the  new  ironclad 
went  on  her  trial  trip  and  was  handed  over  to  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  but  it  was  not  until  March  4th  that  her  guns 
were  mounted  and  a  board  of  naval  officers  reported 
favorably  upon  her.  At  the  request  of  Ericsson  the 
new  craft  was  called  Monitor.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Fox, 
he  said:  "The  impregnable  and  aggressive  character 
of  this  structure  will  admonish  the  leaders  of  the 
Southern  rebellion  that  the  batteries  on  the  banks  of 
their  rivers  will  no  longer  prevent  the  entrance  of 
Union  forces.  The  ironclad  intruder  will  thus  prove  a 
severe  monitor  to  those  leaders.  But  there  are  other 

61 


24:2  BUILDING  THE  MONITOR.  1801. 

leaders  who  will  also  be  startled  and  admonished  by 
the  booming  of  the  guns  from  the  impregnable  iron 
turret.  'Downing  Street'  will  hardly  view  with  in- 
difference this  last  'Yankee  notion,'  this  monitor.  To 
the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  the  new  craft  will  be  a 
monitor,  suggesting  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  com- 
pleting those  four  steel-clad  ships  at  three  and  a  half 
millions  apiece.  On  these  and  many  similar  grounds  I 
propose  to  name  the  new  battery  Monitor"  It  was 
at  first  intended  that  the  Monitor  should  join  the  ex- 
pedition to  New  Orleans,  and  in  reference  to  this  As- 
sistant-Secretary Fox  wrote  to  Ericsson,  February  6, 
1862,  "Can  your  monitor  sail  [steam]  for  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  by  the  12th  inst.  ? "  But  the  report  of  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Merrimac,  at  Norfolk,  changed  the  des- 
tination of  the  new  ironclad. 

It  required  no  ordinary  degree  of  courage  for  officers 
and  men  to  enlist  in  such  a  novel  ship  of  war  as  this. 
When  Stephen  Decatur,  at  the  head  of  seventy-six 
men,  entered  the  harbor  of  Tripoli  in  1804  in  a  ketch, 
and  destroyed  the  PJiiladelphia  under  the  guns  of 
Turkish  batteries,  Nelson  pronounced  it  the  most  dar- 
ing act  of  the  age.  The  officers  and  men  of  the  Moni- 
tor were  not  only  entering  a  place  of  equal  danger,  but 
were  navigating  an  entirely  new  machine,  which  at  any 
moment  might  become  more  formidable  and  merciless 
to  them  than  even  the  Confederate  guns.  The  officers, 
who  volunteered  for  this  service  were  Lieutenant  John 
Lorimer  Worden,  Lieutenant  Samuel  Dana  Greene, 
Acting-Master  Louis  N.  Stodder,  Acting-Master  John 
J.  N.  Webber,  Acting-Assistant-Surgeon  Daniel  C. 
Logue,  Acting- Assistant-Paymaster  William  F.  Keeler, 
First- Assistant-Engineer  Isaac  Newton,  Second-Assist- 
ant-Engineer Albert  B.  Campbell,  Third- Assistant-En- 
gineer Robinson  W.  Hands,  Fourth- Assistant-Engineer 
Mark  Trueman  Sunstrom,  Captain's-Clerk  D.  Toffey, 
Quartermaster  P.  Williams,  Gunner's-Mate  J.  Crown 
and  Boatswain's-Mate  J.  Stocking.  Lieutenant  Wor- 


1861.  THE  CONSTITUTION   AND   THE  MONITOR.  243 

den  left  a  sick  bed  to  take  this  command.  Chief-Engi- 
neer Alban  C.  Stimers  volunteered  to  go  on  board  as  a 
passenger,  and  performed  valuable  service  in  the  ves- 
sel. The  crew  were  volunteers  selected  from  the  frigate 
Sdbine  and  the  receiving- ship  North  Carolina. 

There  were  many  points  of  similarity  in  the  Moni- 
tor and  the  old  44-gun  frigate  Constitution.  Both 
were  radical  innovations  in  naval  construction  in  their 
day,  the  mounting  of  24-pounders  in  the  broadside  of 
a  frigate  in  1797  being  almost  as  startling  as  the  huge 
11-inch  guns  in  the  Monitor.  The  Constitution  and 
the  Monitor  caused  marked  changes  in  the  naval  archi- 
tecture of  their  days  ;  both  were  superior  to  anything 
afloat,  Old  Ironsides  being  heavier  in  armament  than 
any  frigate  of  her  day,  while  her  speed  enabled  her  to 
outsail  the  line-of-battle  ships.  The  deck  measure- 
ments of  the  Monitor  and  the  Constitution  were  within 
a  few  feet  of  each  other ;  the  latter  mounted  fifty-five 
guns,  with  a  total  shot  weight  of  seven  hundred  and 
sixty-five  pounds  to  the  broadside,  while  the  former 
mounted  but  two  guns,  with  three  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds.  The  cost  of  the  Monitor  was  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  an'd  that  of  the  Con- 
stitution was  three  hundred  and  two  thousand  dollars. 
When  the  Constitution  sailed  from  Boston,  in  1812,  to 
try  a  battle  with  an  English  frigate,  orders  arrived  a 
few  hours  afterward  to  have  her  remain  in  port.  When 
the  Monitor  sailed  to  meet  the  enemy,  in  1862,  orders 
arrived,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  next  chapter,  changing 
her  destination. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IRON  VERSUS   IRON. 

AT  eleven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  March  6,  1862, 
the  Monitor,  although  designed  for  the  smooth  waters 
of  harbors  and  rivers,  in  tow  of  the  tugboat  Seth  Low, 
and  escorted  by  the  steamers  CurritucTc  and  Sachem, 
ventured  into  the  boisterous  waters  of  the  Atlantic. 
Scarcely  had  she  passed  the  Narrows  when  orders  were 
received  to  change  her  destination  to  Washington,  and 
a  tugboat  was  immediately  sent  in  chase  of  the  iron- 
clad, but  in  vain.  Similar  orders  were  then  tele- 
graphed to  Captain  Marston  at  Hampton  Roads. 
When  the  Monitor  passed  Sandy  Hook  there  was  but 
little  wind,  and  on  the  first  day  out  she  experienced 
pleasant  weather.  On  the  second  day  the  breeze  fresh- 
ened, and  drove  seas  over  her  exposed  decks  in  alarm- 
ing quantity.  In  spite  of  every  contrivance,  the  berth- 
deck  hatches  leaked  and  the  water  poured  in  like  a 
cascade.  The  waves,  rolling  completely  over  the  pilot 
house,  knocked  the  helmsmen  from  the  wheel,  poured 
into  the  sight-holes  or  sweeping  aft  broke  against  the 
turret,  and  ran  around  the  massive  tower  in  swift 
eddies.  The  turret  did  not  revolve  on  rollers,  but  slid 
on  a  smooth,  bronze  ring  let  into  the  deck.  Before  she 
left  New  York  hemp  rope  had  been  packed  into  the 
crevice  between  the  ring  and  the  base  of  the  turret  to 
keep  out  the  water ;  but  in  a  short  time  this  packing 
was  washed  away,  and  the  sea  poured  through  the 
opening.  The  people  in  the  Monitor  also  neglected  to 
stop  the  hawse  holes,  and  quantities  of  water  entered 
by  that  way,  so  that  before  long  the  vessel  was  in  dan- 

244 


1862.  THE  MONITOR  NEARLY   FOUNDERS.  2tt5 

ger  of  foundering.  The  seas  increased  in  violence  until 
the  gunboats  escorting  her  rolled  so  much  that  it  was 
possible  at  times  to  look  down  their  holds  from  the 
turret  of  the  Monitor.  The  waves  broke  over  the 
smokestack  of  the  ironclad,  which  was  only  six  feet 
high,  and  poured  down  into  the  tires.  The  steam 
pumps  were  started,  but  the  waves  broke  over  the 
blower  pipes,  which  were  only  four  feet  high,  and,  run- 
ning down  in  large  streams,  drenched  the  blower  ma- 
chinery so  that  the  belts  slipped.  Thus  deprived  of 
their  artificial  draft,  the  furnaces  could  not  get  air  for 
combustion,  and  the  engine  room  was  soon  filled  with 
suffocating  gas.  Engineers  Newton  and  Stimers  rushed 
into  the  confined  space  to  check  the  inflowing  water, 
but  were  overcome  with  the  gas,  and  with  great  diffi- 
culty they  were  dragged  out,  more  dead  than  alive,  and 
carried  to  the  top  of  the  turret — the  only  place  in  the 
vessel  where  fresh  air  could  be  obtained — and  here 
they  slowly  revived.  Water  continued  to  pour  down 
the  blower  pipes  and  smokestack  and  nearly  extin- 
guished the  fires,  and  filled  the  engine  room  with  such 
quantities  of  gas  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  man 
to  remain  there. 

The  fires  soon  got  so  low  that  the  steam  pumps  would 
not  operate.  The  hand  pumps  were  then  manned,  but 
were  found  to  be  useless,  as  they  were  not  of  sufficient 
power  to  force  the  water  to  the  top  of  the  turret,  the 
only  place  through  which  it  would  pass.  Bailing  was 
then  resorted  to,  but  the  buckets  had  to  be  passed 
from  the  hold  through  a  series  of  passages  and  lad- 
ders, so  that  even  if  they  were  not  emptied  by  the 
tossing  and  rolling  of  the  ship  when  they  reached  the 
top  of  the  turret,  the  time  required  rendered  this  a 
vain  endeavor.  From  the  forward  part  of  the  ship 
came  the  most  dismal  and  unearthly  screams  and 
groans,  which  were  caused  by  the  air  in  the  anchor  well. 
"They  resembled,"  said  Lieutenant  Greene,  "the  death 
groans  of  twenty  men,  and  were  the  most  dismal  and 


246  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

awful  sounds  ever  heard."  These  discordant  noises 
did  not  tend  to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  seamen.  The 
water  continued  to  pour  through  the  hawse  holes, 
hatches,  pilot  house,  smokestack  and  blower  pipes  in 
alarming  quantities.  Destruction  stared  the  heroic 
crew  in  the  face,  and  undoubtedly  the  vessel  would 
have  foundered  in  a  few  hours  had  not  the  wind  to- 
ward evening  died  away  and  the  waves  subsided. 
When  at  last,  in  comparatively  smooth  waters,  the 
engines  were  put  in  motion  and  the  men  took  heart. 
But  toward  midnight  they  again  got  into  a  rough  sea 
and  had  to  fight  the  inrtishing  water.  To  add  to  their 
complication  of  the  previous  day,  the  wire  wheel-ropes 
for  steering  the  vessel  came  off  the  wheels,  and  all 
hands  were  occupied  most  of  that  night  in  hauling  on 
ropes  by  hand  and  readjusting  the  steering  gear.  Sat- 
urday morning,  March  8th,  they  again  came  into 
smooth  water.  Although  exhausted  and  dispirited  by 
thirty-six  hours  of  struggle  for  life,  and  sadly  discour- 
aged by  the  many  defects  that  were  developed  in  the 
''trial  trip"  of  their  novel  craft,  the  men  immediately 
set  to  work  pumping  out  the  water  and  making  repairs. 
At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  while  they  were 
passing  Cape  Henry,  the  distant  booming  of  shotted 
guns  was  heard.  It  was  the  Merrimac  completing  the 
destruction  of  the  Congress,  and  soon  afterward  the 
pilot  came  aboard  and  told  the  dreadful  story  of  that 
day.  With  quickened  pulse  the  men  of  the  Monitor 
keyed  up  the  turret,  cleared  for  action  and  made  every 
exertion  to  reach  the  scene  of  hostilities,  but  it  was 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  before  they  arrived  off  Fort 
Monroe.  As  the  night  advanced  the  burning  frigate 
presented  a  magnificent  spectacle.  "  The  moon  in  her 
second  quarter  was  just  rising  over  the  waters,  but  her 
silvery  light  was  soon  paled  by  the  conflagration  of  the 
Congress,  whose  glare  was  reflected  in  the  river.  The 
burning  frigate,  four  miles  away,  seemed  much  nearer. 
As  the  flames  crept  up  the  rigging,  every  mast,  spar 


18C2.  IN  SIGHT  OP  THE  ENEMY.  247 

and  rope  glittered  against  the  dark  sky  with  dazzling 
lines  of  fire.  The  hull  was  plainly  visible,  and  upon  its 
black  surface  the  mouth  of  each  porthole  seemed  the 
mouth  of  a  fiery  furnace.  For  hours  the  flames  raged 
with  hardly  a  perceptible  change  in  the  wondrous  pic- 
ture. At  irregular  intervals  loaded  guns  and  shells, 
exploding  as  the  fire  reachecT  them,  shook  up  a  shower 
of  sparks  and  sent  forth  their  deep  reverberations.  The 
masts  and  rigging  were  still  standing,  apparently  al- 
most intact,  when  at  one  o'clock  in  the  following  morn- 
ing she  blew  up."  '  Lieutenant  Worden  immediately 
reported  to  Captain  Marston,  of  the  Jtoanofce,  and  the 
latter,  in  view  of  the  disastrous  results  of  that  day,  dis- 
obeyed his  order  to  send  the  Monitor  to  Washington, 
and  directed  her  to  remain  in  the  Roads.  Ac  ting- Mas- 
ter Samuel  Howard  volunteering  as  pilot,  the  Monitor 
again  got  under  way,  steamed  up  the  channel,  and 
about  midnight  anchored  beside  the  Minnesota,  which 
ship  was  still  fast  aground. 

The  gloom  and  depression  pervading  the  National 
forces  at  Hampton  Roads  on  the  night  of  the  8th  was 
-scarcely  disturbed  by  the  arrival  of  this  untried  and 
diminutive  stranger,  which  had  barely  escaped  a  pre- 
mature end  in  her  own  element,  and  which  now  could 
hardly  be  distinguished  as  she  lay  in  the  dark  shadow 
of  the  powerful  frigate  she  presumed  to  protect.  Nor 
were  the  men  in  the  Monitor  in  a  condition  to  go 
through  the  terrible  ordeal  of  the  morrow.  They  were 
completely  exhausted.  Isaac  Newton  was  confined  in 
his  bunk.  He  had  been  under  a  severe  strain  during 
the  trip  from  New  York,  and  he  was  not  expected  to 
be  ready  for  duty  for  at  least  a  week.  During  the  last 
fifty  hours  this  heroic  ship's  company  had  been  bat- 
tling against  the  sea  night  and  day  for  mere  existence, 
and  now,  just  as  they  were  exhausted  to  the  last  de- 
gree, they  were  called  upon  to  face  a  foe  flushed  with 

1  R.  E.  Colston,  in  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  i,  p.  714. 


2-iS  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

victory,  whose  vessel  had  safely  passed  the  test  of  one 
hundred  heavy  guns,  and  who  were  resting  in  security 
and  quiet,  dreaming  of  greater  victories  on  the  morrow. 

All  night  long  the  sounds  of  preparation  for  the 
impending  conflict  were  heard  in  the  little  ironclad. 
There  was  no  time  for  rest,  and  as  the  dawn  of  Sunday, 
March  9th,  broke  over  the  placid  waters  of  Hampton 
Roads,  they  eagerly  sought  the  first  glimpse  of  their 
confident  antagonist.  Gradually  her  dark  outlines  be- 
gan to  assume  shape  through  the  mist  that  shrouded 
the  shores,  and  by  daylight  she  was  in  full  view,  silent 
and  majestic  in  the  consciousness  of  her  prowess. 
Soon  dense  volumes  of  black  smoke  began  to  curl 
lazily  upward,  indicating  that  she  was  beginning  prepa- 
rations for  the  work  of  destruction.  At  eight  o'clock 
Sunday  morning  the  Merrimac  slipped  her  moorings, 
and  in  command  of  Lieutenant  Jones  turned  her  head 
toward  the  Minnesota,  evidently  with  the  intention  of 
beginning  on  her.  The  iron  monster  leisurely  steamed 
toward  the  Rip-Raps,  and  while  yet  a  mile  away  fired 
a  gun,  the  shot  striking  the  Minnesota's  counter. 

Now  was  the  time  for  the  Monitor  to  make  her 
debut.  All  eyes  were  turned  on  the  insignificant  craft, 
some  with  hope,  others  wTith  contempt,  but  all  feeling 
that  on  her  depended  what  little  chance  there  was  for 
escape  from  a  renewal  of  the  horrible  scenes  of  the  day 
before.  It  was  with  a  sense  of  relief  and  astonishment, 
therefore,  that  they  beheld  the  Monitor  swing  from 
her  anchorage  and  boldly  head  for  the  iron  monster. 
From  descriptions  and  plans  that  the  Confederates  had 
received  from  the  North,  they  immediately  recognized 
the  novel  machine  as  the  Monitor.  One  of  the  men  in 
the  Merrimac  wrote :  "  We  soon  descried  a  strange- 
looking  iron  tower  sliding  over  the  waters  toward  us. 
It  had  been  seen  by  the  light  of  the  burning  Con- 
gress the  night  before,  and  it  was  reported  to  us  by 
one  of  the  pilots."  The  presence  of  the  Monitor  caused 
a  change  in  the  Confederate  programme,  which  was,  to 


1862.  FIRST  FIGHT  OF   IRONCLADS.  249 

destroy  the  Minnesota  first,  and  then  the  Roanoke  and 
the  St.  Lawrence,  after  which  the  way  to  Washington 
and  New  York  would  be  open  to  the  all-powerful  Mer- 
rimac. Instead  of  proceeding  directly  for  her  prey, 
therefore,  the  Merrimac  turned  on  the  little  Monitor, 
to  settle  immediately  all  questions  as  to  who  should  be 
master  of  the  Roads. 

The  two  strange  vessels,  so  different  both  from  each 
other  and  from  everything  else  afloat,  now  approached 
in  silence.  The  other  vessels  and  the  shores  of  the 
Roads  were  crowded  with  eager  and  anxious  specta- 
tors. On  the  one  side  the  Unionists  awaited  the  issue 
with  deepest  anxiety  and  palpitating  hearts,  while  on 
the  other  side  the  Confederates  watched  the  approach- 
ing duel  with  confidence  and  expectant  delight.  But 
all  felt  that  the  result  of  the  combat  before  them  would 
tilt  the  scales  of  the  civil  war  heavily  one  way  or  the 
other.  About  this  time  Lieutenant  Worden  took  his 
station  in  the  pilot  house  with  the  pilot  and  quarter- 
master, while  Lieutenant  Greene  and  Chief -Engineer 
Stimers,  with  sixteen  men,  manned  the  guns  in  the 
turret  and  the  machinery  for  revolving  it.  Acting- 
Master  Stodder  was  first  stationed  at  the  wheel  for  re- 
volving the  turret,  and  when  he  was  disabled  Stimers 
took  his  place.  Acting-Master  Webber  commanded 
the  powder  division  on  the  berth  deck,  while  the  pay- 
master and  the  captain's  clerk  on  the  berth  deck  passed 
orders  from  the  pilot  house.  The  remainder  of  the 
crew — thirty-six  men — were  at  their  stations  in  the 
engine  room,  cockpit  and  magazines.  Lieutenant  Butt, 
of  the  Merrimac,  had  been  a  roommate  of  Lieutenant 
Greene  in  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis. 

About  8.30  A.  M.  the  Merrimac  opened  with  her 
bow  gun,  but  now  she  did  not  have  the  broad  side  of  a 
frigate  to  aim  at  and  her  missile  went  wide  of  the  mark 
—one  point  in  favor  of  the  Monitor  which  the  specta- 
tors of  the  duel  were  quick  to  note.  Lieutenant  Wor- 
den reserved  his  fire  until  within  short  range,  when  he 


250 


IRON  VERSUS  IRON. 


changed  his  course  so  as  to  run  alongside  of  his  antag- 
onist ;  then  he  stopped  his  engines  and  gave  the  order 
"Begin  firing!"  Immediately  the  port  covers  were 
triced  back,  the  turret  revolved  until  the  guns  bore, 
and  massive  11-inch  solid  shot  were  hurled  at  the 
Merrimac.  Almost  at  the  same  instant  the  Merrimac 
brought  her  starboard  broadside  to  bear,  and,  taking 
more  careful  aim,  fired.  Lieutenant  Greene  and  his 
men  heard  the  heavy  shot  strike  viciously  on  their  tur- 
ret, and  for  a  moment  they  looked  anxiously  about 
them  to  discover  the  result  of  this  first  test  of  their 
citadel.  It  was  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  shot  had  not 
penetrated,  and  as  the  turret  again  revolved  obediently 
to  the  order,  a  look  of  confidence  and  hope  spread  over 
every  countenance  and  the  men  reloaded  with  a  will. 
After  this  first  pass  of  arms  the  ironclads  turned 
and  again  fired,  this  time  even  at  closer  quarters  than 
before.  The  Monitor  used  solid  shot,  and  fired  about 
once  in  eight  minutes,  while  the  Merrimac  fired  shells 
exclusively.  The  broadsides  were  exchanged,  with  no 
effect  on  the  Monitor,  while  her  men,  growing  more 
confident  in  the  protection  of  her  turret,  even  presumed 

to  look  out  of  the 
ports  and  see 
what  effect  their 
shot  had  on  the 
enemy.  No  dam- 
age could  be  dis- 
covered on  the 
sides  of  the  Mer- 
rimac, but  the 
difference  in  the 
superior  weight 
of  11-inch  shot  and  the  lighter  guns  of  the  wooden  fri- 
gates was  realized  by  the  Confederate  crew.  About 
this  time  Acting-Master  Stodder  was  disabled  while 
leaning  against  the  side  of  the  turret  when  it  was 
struck  by  a  shell  from  the  Merrimac.  The  guns  of 


Monitor  and  Merrimac. 


1862.  A   MOMENT  OP  ANXIETY.  251 

the  Merrimac  were  now  fired  as  fast  as  they  could  be 
loaded,  and  the  Monitor  responded  every  seven  or 
eight  minutes.  In  this  contest  the  latter  had  the  ad- 
vantage over  her  huge  antagonist,  for  her  light  draught 
and  superior  speed  enabled  her  to  manoeuvre  with 
adroitness,  while  her  revolving  turret  brought  her  guns 
into  range  whenever  they  were  loaded.  The  Merrimac, 
of  course,  could  not  fire  until  her  guns  bore,  and  on  ac- 
count of  her  great  draught  she  was  confined  to  the  narrow 
channel,  while  the  loss  of  her  smokestack  on  the  day 
before  caused  her  fires  to  run  so  low  that  Chief-Engi- 
neer Ramsay  reported  that  it  was  exceedingly  difficult 
to  keep  up  any  steam  at  all.  This  enabled  the  little 
Monitor  to  counterbalance  the  superior  number  of  the 
enemy's  guns  by  keeping  out  of  range.  At  one  time 
she  secured  a  position  from  which  she  poured  in  her 
heavy  shot,  while  the  Merrimac  for  several  minutes 
could  not  bring  a  gun  to  bear. 

After  firing  broadside  after  broadside  with  no  ap- 
parent effect  upon  his  antagonist,  Lieutenant  Worden 
sought  for  some  vulnerable  place  where  he  could  ram 
the  Merrimac,  and  Lieutenant  Jones,  of  the  Merrimac, 
says,  "  This  manoeuvring  caused  us  great  anxiety."  At 
length  a  dash  was  made  at  the  Merrimac1  s  stern,  in  the 
hope  of  disabling  the  rudder  or  the  propeller.  The 
blow  was  well  aimed,  but  missed  its  mark  by  three 
feet,  so  that  the  Monitor  grazed  along  the  Merrimac9 s 
quarter,  and  at  this  instant  Lieutenant  Greene  dis- 
charged both  his  guns  at  the  same  time.  The  solid  11- 
inch  shot  struck  close  together  halfway  up  the  case- 
mate and  crushed  in  the  iron  plates  two  or  three  inches. 
The  concussion  was  terrific,  knocking  over  the  crew  of 
the  after  guns  in  the  Merrimac  and  causing  many  of 
her  men  to  bleed  at  the  nose  and  ears.  Another  shot 
planted  in  the  same  place  would  have  penetrated  ;  but 
this  could  not  easily  be  done,  owing  to  the  peculiar 
difficulties  under  which  the  people  in  the  turret  labored 
and  the  want  of  practice  in  working  the  machinery 


252  IRON   VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

that  revolved  it.  Lieutenant  Jones  says:  "  We  won- 
dered how  proper  aim  could  be  taken  in  the  very  short 
time  the  guns  were  in  sight." 

The  only  view  the  men  in  the  turret  had  of  the  out- 
side world  was  over  the  muzzles  of  their  guns,  which 
cleared  the  ports  by  only  a  few  inches.  When  the 
guns  were  run  in  after  each  discharge  the  heavy  iron 
stoppers  covered  the  ports,  leaving  the  gunners  to- 
tally at  loss  as  to  what  was  going  on  outside  until  the 
guns  were  again  run  out.  As  the  turret  began  to  re- 
volve again,  they  had  to  watch  through  their  narrow 
strip  of  light  until  the  Merrimac  was  swung  into  their 
line  of  vision.  It  was  only  with  great  difficulty  that 
the  enormous  mass  of  iron  composing  the  turret  could 
be  started  on  its  revolution.  The  machinery  and  the 
turret  itself  had  become  rusty  on  the  passage  from 
New  York,  so  that  when  once  started  it  was  even  more 
difficult  to  stop  it  at  the  desired  point.  Consequently 
the  men  in  the  turret  were  obliged  to  fire  "  on  the  fly," 
or  whOe  the  turret  was  revolving,  lest  they  should  be 
carried  past  the  range  before  the  engine  could  bring 
them  to  a  standstill. 

Another  great  embarrassment  under  which  the  gun- 
ners labored  was  that  of  distinguishing  the  bow  from 
the  stern  and  the  starboard  from  the  port  side  when 
inclosed  in  their  dark  tower.  White  marks  had  been 
made  on  the  stationary  deck  inside  the  turret,  which 
was  next  to  the  revolving  deck  on  which  they  stood  ; 
but  soon  their  confined  space  in  the  turret  was  filled 
with  burnt  gunpowder  and  smoke,  which  blackened  the 
faces  of  the  men  and  their  clothing,  and  everything  in 
the  place  was  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  soot,  which 
completely  obliterated  all  traces  of  the  distinguishing 
white  marks,  leaving  the  men  ignorant  as  to  which  di- 
rection the  bow,  stern,  starboard  or  port  side  was  in. 
Furthermore,  the  rotary  motion  of  the  turret  made 
them  dizzy  and  confused  their  vision.  The  question 
was  constantly  passed  to  the  pilot  house,  "How  does 


1863.  IX  THE  MONITOR'S  TURRET.  253 

the  Merrimac  bear?"  The  answer  would  be,  "  On  the 
starboard  beam  "or  "  On  the  port  quarter,"  as  the  case 
might  be  ;  but  the  men  in  the  turret  were  at  loss  to 
know  in  which  direction  the  starboard  or  port  side 
lay.  Consequently,  when  the  guns  were  ready  to  be 
fired  the  port  covers  were  hauled  back  and  the  turret 
set  in  motion,  while  the  gunners,  without  the  least 
idea  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  their  foe,  closely  watched 
their  narrow  strip  of  horizon  until  the  frowning 
sides  of  the  Merrimac  swept  into  view,  when  they 
fired. 

This  complication  of  difficulties  led  to  the  danger  of 
firing  into  their  own  pilot  house.  Soon  after  the  action 
began  both  vessels  were  involved  in  volumes  of  smoke, 
which  frequently  enveloped  them  so  as  to  render  their 
outlines  exceedingly  indistinct,  if  not  entirely  con- 
cealed. This,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  Monitor's 
turret  was  filled  with  smoke,  might  easily  induce  an 
excited  gunner,  already  confused  by  the  whirligig  mo- 
tion of  the  turret,  and  fully  convinced  that  he  must  fire 
on  the  fly,  to  pull  the  lanyard  as  the  beclouded  out- 
lines of  the  pilot  house  came  into  view.  The  speaking- 
tube  that  connected  the  pilot  house  with  the  turret  was 
broken  early  in  the  action,  so  that  all  orders  had  to  be 
transmitted  verbally.  This  led  to  much  delay  in  exe- 
cuting orders,  and  also  caused  errors,  as  the  messenger 
intrusted  to  this  duty  was  a  landsman  and  frequently 
confused  the  technical  terms  he  conveyed.  Another 
great  object  constantly  held  in  view  by  the  sorely  em- 
barrassed men  in  the  turret  was  to  prevent  the  enemy 
from  landing  a  shell  within  it.  Such  a  disaster  would 
be  irreparable,  as  there  were  not  enough  men  in  the 
vessel  to  form  a  relief  crew,  even  if  the  turret  and 
guns  were  not  disabled  by  such  an  explosion.  The 
effect  of  heavy  shot  striking  the  turret  was  not  serious 
unless  men  happened  to  be  standing  near  the  iron 
where  the  shot  struck.  Three  men  were  knocked  down 
in  this  way,  including  Chief -Engineer  S  timers,  who  was 


254  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

not  seriously  hurt.  The  other  two  men  were  carried 
below  and  recovered  before  the  battle  was  over. 

Despairing  of  injuring  the  Monitor,  Lieutenant 
Jones  made  for  the  Minnesota,  but  in  so  doing  he  ran 
his  vessel  aground.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he  got 
her  afloat  again.  As  the  Merrimac  approached  the 
Minnesota  the  latter  delivered  full  broadsides,  but 
with  no  effect,  although  fifty  solid  shot  were  fired.  The 
enemy  responded  with  shells  from  his  bow  gun,  one  of 
which  exploded  amidships  on  the  berth  deck,  and  tore 
four  rooms  into  one  and  started  a  fire.  The  second 
shell  exploded  the  boiler  of  the  steamer  Dragon  that 
was  lying  alongside  the  frigate.  By  the  time  the  Mer- 
rimac fired  her  third  shell  at  the  Minnesota  the  Mon- 
itor was  again  in  range,  and  the  duel  between  the  iron- 
clads was  renewed.  After  hurling  broadside  after 
broadside  at  the  Monitor  with  no  effect,  the  Merrimac 
determined  to  try  her  ram,  manreuvring  some  time  for 
a  position,  and  an  opportunity  at  last  presented  itself. 
On  went  the  ironclad  at  full  speed,  but  her  vigilant 
foe  eluded  the  shock,  so  that  only  a  slanting  blow  was 
given. 

One  of  the  men  in  the  Merrimac  wrote:  "Nearly 
two  hours  passed,  and  many  a  shot  and  shell  were  ex- 
changed at  close  quarters,  with  no  perceptible  damage 
to  either  side.  The  Merrimac  is  discouragingly  cum- 
brous and  unwieldy.  To  wind  her  for  each  broadside 
fifteen  minutes  are  lost,  while  during  all  this  time  the 
Monitor  is  whirling  around  and  about  like  a  top,  and 
the  easy  working  of  her  turret  and  her  precise  and 
rapid  movements  elicit  the  wondering  admiration  of 
all.  She  is  evidently  invulnerable  to  our  shell.  Our 
next  movement  is  to  run  her  down.  We  ram  her  with 
all  our  force.  But  she  is  so  flat  and  broad  that  she 
merely  slides  away  from  under  our  hull,  as  a  floating 
door  would  slip  away  from  under  the  cutwater  of  a 
barge.  All  that  we  could  do  was  to  push  her.  Lieu- 
tenant Jones  now  determined  to  board  her,  to  choke 


1862.  AT  CLOSE  QUARTERS.  255 

her  turret  in  some  way,  and  lash  her  to  the  Merrimac. 
The  blood  is  rushing  through  our  veins,  the  shrill 
pipe  and  the  hoarse  roar  of  the  boatswain,  '  Boarders 
away ! '  are  heard,  but  lo,  our  enemy  has  hauled  off 
into  shoal  water,  where  she  is  safe  from  our  ship  as  if 
she  was  on  the  topmost  peak  of  Blue  Ridge."  "Her 
bow  passed  over  our  deck,"  wrote  Chief -Engineer  Al- 
bans  C.  Stimers,  who  was  a  volunteer  in  the  Monitor, 
to  Ericsson,  "and  our  sharp  upper  edge  rail  cut 
through  the  light  iron  shoe  upon  her  stem,  and  well 
into  her  oak."  At  the  instant  of  the  collision  Lieuten- 
ant Greene  planted  an  11 -inch  shot  on  the  Merrimac 's 
forward  casemate,  which  crushed  in  the  iron  and  shat- 
tered the  wooden  backing,  but  did  no  further  damage. 
Had  the  gun  been  charged  with  fifty  pounds  of  pow- 
der, the  shot  would  have  penetrated  ;  but  peremptory 
orders  had  been  issued  by  the  department  to  use  only 
fifteen  pounds  in  the  charge,  as  the  guns  were  new  and 
were  of  extraordinarily  large  caliber  for  those  days. 
On  the  other  hand,  had  the  Merrimac  used  solid  shot, 
the  effect  of  her  blows  on  the  Monitor  would  have  been 
far  more  serious. 

After  two  hours  of  incessant  action  the  ammunition 
in  the  Monitor's  turret  began  to  fail,  upon  which  Lieu- 
tenant Worden  hauled  off  to  replenish  his  stock.  This 
could  be  done  only  when  the  scuttle  in  the  revolving 
deck  of  the  turret  was  exactly  over  a  corresponding 
opening  in  the  stationary  deck  immediately  below  it, 
which  compelled  Lieutenant  Worden  to  retire  from 
the  action  until  ponderous  shot  were  hoisted  from  the 
hold  into  the  turret.  This  was  the  movement  that  led 
the  Merrimac's  people  to  believe  that  their  antagonist 
was  retreating.  In  this  short  lull  Lieutenant  Worden 
passed  through  the  portholes  of  the  turret  to  the  deck, 
so  as  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  situation. 

In  fifteen  minutes  the  Monitor  was  again  ready  for 
the  struggle  and  gallantly  bore  down  on  her  huge  an- 
tagonist, and  the  enemy,  despairing  of  making  any  im- 


256  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1863. 

pression  on  the  turret,  now  concentrated  their  fire  on 
the  pilot  house.  About  11.30  A.  M.,  while  Lieutenant 
Worden  was  watching  the  enemy  through  a  sight-hole 
in  the  pilot  house,  a  shell  struck  on  the  outside  not 
more  than  fifteen  inches  from  him  and  exploded,  filling 
his  face  and  eyes  with  powder.  For  a  moment  it  was 
thought  that  the  pilot  house  was  demolished,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Worden  gave  the  order  to  sheer  off,  at  the  same 
time  sending  for  Lieutenant  Greene.  The  latter  officer 
hastened  forward  and  found  his  commander  leaning 
against  the  ladder  that  led  to  the  pilot  house.  As  the 
dim  yellow  light  of  the  ship's  lantern  fell  upon  Lieuten- 
ant Worden  he  presented  a  ghastly  sight.  Blood  seemed 
to  be  oozing  from  every  pore  in  his  face,  while  with 
closed  eyes  he  helplessly  clung  to  the  ladder  for  sup- 
port. Lieutenant  Greene  assisted  him  to  a  sofa  in  his 
cabin,  where  he  was  attended  by  Dr.  Logue  ;  but  even 
there  the  heroic  man  could  not  forget  the  great  strug- 
gle that  was  going  on  above  him,  and  constantly  in- 
quired about  the  progress  of  the  battle,  apparently  for- 
getful of  the  intense  pain  caused  by  his  wound.  When 
told  that  the  Minnesota  had  been  saved,  he  said, 
"  Then  I  can  die  happy." 

The  command  of  the  Monitor  now  devolved  upon 
Lieutenant  Greene,  who  hastened  to  the  pilot  house 
and  once  more  gave  his  attention  to  the  foe.  On  ex- 
amination, it  was  found  that  only  the  heavy  iron  plate 
had  been  fractured,  while  the  steering  gear  remained 
intact.  In  the  confusion  of  the  moment,  however,  the 
Monitor  had  been  drifting  aimlessly  about,  but  at  noon 
she  was  again  headed  for  the  enemy.  Lieutenant 
Jones,  of  the  Merrimac.  observing  the  Monitor  run- 
ning to  shoal  water  where  he  could  not  follow  her,  de- 
termined to  return  to  Norfolk.  The  Monitor  fired  two 
or  three  shot  at  her  retiring  foe,  indicating  her  will- 
ingness to  continue  the  fight,  but  the  Merrimac  held 
on  her  course  up  Elizabeth  River,  and  the  Monitor 
returned  to  her  station  by  the  side  of  the  Minnesota, 


1862.  COMPARATIVE  INJURIES.  257 

which  vessel  was  still  hard  aground.  So  little  hope  of 
the  successful  repulse  of  the  Merrimac  had  been  en- 
tertained by  the  officers  of  the  Minnesota,  that  when 
Lieutenant  Greene  came  aboard  he  found  every  prepa- 
ration had  been  made  to  abandon  and  fire  the  ship. 

In  this  fight  between  the  ironclads  the  Monitor  was 
struck  nine  times  on  her  turret,  twice  on  the  pilot 
house,  three  times  on  the  deck  and  eight  times  on  her 
side.  The  deepest  indentation  was  made  by  a  shot  that 
entered  four  inches  into  the  iron  on  her  side.  One 
shell  crushed  in  the  turret  two  inches.  The  Monitor 
fired  forty-one  shot.  Ninety-seven  indentations  of  shot 
were  found  on  the  Merrimatfs  armor,  twenty  of  which 
were  from  the  11-inch  guns  of  the  Monitor.  None  of 
her  lower  layers  of  iron  plates  were  broken,  but  six  of 
the  top  layers  were  smashed  by  the  Monitor's  shot. 

After  her  action  with  the  Monitor  the  Merrimac 
withdrew  to  Norfolk  and  was  placed  in  dry  dock  for 
repairs.  She  was  then  supplied  with  a  new  steel  ram, 
wrought-iron  shutters  were  fitted  to  her  ports,  the  hull 
for  a  distance  of  four  feet  below  the  casemate  was  cov- 
ered with  two-inch  plates,  and  her  rifled  guns  were 
supplied  with  steel-pointed  solid  shot.  These  changes 
increased  her  draught  to  twenty-three  feet  and  reduced 
her  speed  to  four  knots.  On  the  llth  of  April  she 
again  steamed  down  Elizabeth  river  in  command  of 
Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall,  with  the  expectation  of 
meeting  the  Monitor,  which  at  that  time  was  anchored 
below  Fort  Monroe  with  the  other  National  vessels. 
But  the  Monitor  remained  strictly  on  the  defensive,  as 
she  was  the  only  effective  ironclad  ship  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Government  in  any  way  capable  of  meeting 
the  Merrimac.  For  much  the  same  reason  Commo- 
dore Tattnall  was  not  permitted  to  run  past  Fort  Mon- 
roe and  attack  the  Monitor,  as  the  loss  of  the  Merrimac 
would  expose  the  more  important  operations  of  the 
Confederate  forces  on  land. 

At  this  time  the  National  naval  force  in  Hampton 

62 


258  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

Roads,  in  anticipation  of  another  attack  from  the  Mer- 
rimac, had  been  increased  to  about  twenty-five  war 
vessels  of  all  classes.  The  vital  point  to  be  gained  by 
the  Government  at  this  time  was  to  prevent  the  Mer- 
rimac  from  becoming  mistress  of  these  waters,  and  to 
attain  this  object  every  minor  consideration  was  sacri- 
ficed. In  the  Union  fleet  was  the  swift  river  boat  Bal- 
timore, which  drew  only  six  inches  forward,  and  it 
was  proposed  to  drive  her  bow  upon  the  submerged 
deck  of  the  Merrimac  and  thus  hold  the  ironclad  steady 
while  the  other  vessels  took  turns  in  ramming  her. 
The  vessels  were  anchored  in  two  columns,  one  headed 
by  the  Minnesota  and  the  other  by  the  Vanderbilt, 
and  all  were  held  in  readiness  for  immediate  action. 
Of  such  great  importance  was  the  possession  of  Hamp- 
ton Roads  to  the  National  cause  that  the  Monitor  was 
held  in  reserve,  to  be  called  into  action  only  when  the 
fleet  of  twenty-five  vessels  failed  to  accomplish  the 
destruction  of  the  Merrimac. 

Observing  three  merchantmen  anchored  above  Fort 
Monroe,  the  Jamestown  made  a  gallant  dash  at  them, 
and  in  spite  of  the  heavy  fire  from  the  land  batteries 
carried  them  off  in  triumph,  amid  cheers  from  the  crew 
of  the  British  corvette  Rinaldo.  Two  of  the  prizes  were 
brigs  laden  with  supplies  for  McClellan's  army.  At 
another  time  the  Merrimac  again  dropped  down  the 
Roads  and  exchanged  a  few  shot  with  Fort  Monroe, 
in  hope  of  inducing  the  Monitor  to  give  battle.  On 
this  occasion  Commodore  Tattnall  had  made  prepara- 
tions for  his  four  gunboats  to  surround  the  Monitor, 
board  her  with  overwhelming  numbers,  cover  her  gun 
ports  and  pilot  house  with  tarpaulins,  wedge  the  turret 
so  it  could  not  be  used,  and  throw  hand  grenades  into 
the  turret  and  down  the  smokestack.  The  people  in 
the  Monitor  were  prepared  for  such  an  emergency,  but 
they  were  still  compelled  by  the  orders  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  remain  strictly  on  the  defensive. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  show  that  the  action  be- 


1862.  A  VICTORY  FOR  THE  MONITOR.  259 

tween  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac,  if  not  a  victory 
for  the  latter,  was  at  least  a  drawn  battle.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  understand  how  such  a  conclusion  could  be  ar- 
rived at.  On  the  morning  of  March  9th  the  Merrimac 
came  out  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  destroying  the 
remaining  ships  in  Hampton  Roads,  knowing  at  that 
time  that  the  Monitor  had  arrived,  for,  says  a  South- 
ern account,  on  the  evening  of  March  8th  "one  of  the 
pilots  chanced,  about  11  p.  M.,  to  be  looking  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  Congress,  when  there  passed  a  strange- 
looking  craft,  brought  out  in  bold  relief  by  the  brilliant 
light  of  the  burning  ship,  which  he  at  once  proclaimed 
to  be  the  JUricsson  [Monitor].  We  were  therefore  not 
surprised  in  the  morning  to  see  the  Monitor  at  anchor 
near  the  Minnesota."  This  shows  that  the  Merrimac, 
on  the  morning  of  March  9th,  assumed  the  offensive, 
knowing  that  the  Monitor  was  among  the  National 
ships.  It  is  also  shown  by  Southern  records  that  on 
that  memorable  day  the  Monitor  at  no  time  assumed 
any  but  a  defensive  position.  The  Monitor  entered 
Hampton  Roads  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  prevent- 
ing the  destruction  of  the  National  ships.  On  the  even- 
ing of  March  9th  the  Merrimac  retired  from  Hampton 
Roads  without  having  accomplished  her  object,  but  the 
Monitor  had  accomplished  hers.  On  the  morning  of 
March  9th  the  Merrimac  was  master  of  the  situation  in 
Hampton  Roads,  but  in  the  evening  of  that  day  the 
Monitor  was.  If  the  argument  that  because  the  Moni- 
tor did  not  capture  her  antagonist  she  did  not  win  a 
complete  victory  is  held  good,  then  General  Jackson 
did  not  win  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  because  the 
British  army  was  not  captured;  Wellington  did  not 
win  at  Waterloo,  because  Napoleon's  army  was  allowed 
to  escape  ;  and  a  long  list  of  celebrated  naval  victories 
were  not  victories  because  the  bulk  of  the  defeated 
squadron  escaped.  After  the  battle  the  Monitor  was 
ordered  to  protect  the  National  ships  at  Hampton 
Roads  but  attempt  nothing  further.  This  she  did  in 


2GO  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

the  most  effectual  manner.  More  than  one  battle  has 
been  won  by  masterly  inactivity,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  Merrimac  a  few  weeks  later  was  directly  due  to 
the  prolonged  presence  of  the  Monitor  in  the  Roads 
acting  strictly  on  the  defensive. 

Realizing  that  shot  and  shell  could  not  be  relied 
upon  to  destroy  the  Merrimac,  the  Government  col- 
lected a  large  fleet  of  vessels  in  Hampton  Roads,  deter- 
mined to  crush  the  "  monster  "  by  sheer  weight.  Ru- 
mors of  the  Merrimac's  coming  out  as  soon  as  her 
repairs  were  finished  came  to  the  Nationalists  from 
time  to  time,  and  stimulated  them  to  greater  exertions, 
and  by  April  9,  1862,  twenty-five  unarmored  vessels, 
besides  the  Monitor,  under  the  orders  of  Flag-Officer 
Goldsborough,  were  in  the  Roads.  The  most  important 
of  these  were  the  Minnesota,  SusqueJianna,  Dakota, 
Seminole,  San  Jacinto,  Octorara,  Wachusetts,  Aroos- 
tooTc,  Maratanza,  VanderMlt,  Oriole,  Aroga,  Rhode 
Island,  Illinois,  Stevens,  Ericsson  and  Baltimore. 

The  last  was  "a  light  river  boat,  side  wheeler,  of 
great  speed  and  curved  bow,  drawing  only  six  inches 
forward  and  six  feet  aft,  held  in  front  for  the  purpose 
of  being  forced  upon  one  of  the  nearly  submerged  ends 
of  the  Merrimac,  if  possible,  either  forward  or  abaft 
the  superstructure,  according  to  circumstances,  in  order 
to  render  the  ironclad  immovable,  and  while  thus  held 
she  was  to  be  rammed  by  the  vessels  of  the  National 
fleet."  J  This  great  fleet  was  anchored  in  two  columns, 
headed  by  the  Minnesota  and  VanderMlt,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  east  of  Fort  Monroe,  the  right  column 
consisting  of  merchant  vessels  and  the  left  of  war  craft. 
The  Monitor  and  Stevens  were  held  in  reserve  in  case 
the  wooden  ships  failed  to  destroy  the  Merrimac.  Of 
these  vessels  only  the  Vanderbilt  had  her  bow  pro- 
tected with  iron. 

On  April  llth  the  Merrimac,  accompanied  by  the 

1  Rear- Admiral  Thomas  Stowell  Phelps  to  the  author. 


1862.  LAST  OF   THE   MERRIMAC.  261 

gunboats  Jamestown  and  Raleigh  and  four  other  ves- 
sels,1 ventured  into  the  Roads,  the  gunboats  promptly 
seizing  two  brigs  and  a  schooner  which  had  grounded 
near  Beaches  Landing,  having  moved  over  to  that  side  of 
the  road  in  disobedience  to  orders.  After  reaching  Mid- 
dle Ground,  however,  the  Merrimac  remained  station- 
ary, and  late  in  the  afternoon  retired  toward  her  moor- 
ing, above  Craney  Island.  ' '  The  boats  of  an  English  and 
a  French  man-of-war  anchored  northward  of  Newport 
News  shoal  were  observed  to  communicate  with  the 
Merrimac,  and  about  2  P.  M.  the  French  ship  weighed, 
and  running  leeward  of  the  fleet  her  commander 
boarded  the  Minnesota,  and  in  conversation  with  the 
flag  officer  remarked  that  during  his  interview  with 
Commodore  Tattnall  that  officer  had  stated  "  that  he 
perfectly  understood  Goldsborough's  plans,  and  did  not 
propose  to  subject  his  ship  to  certain  destruction,  thus 
explaining  why  he  refrained  from  attempting  to  ac- 
complish the  object  of  his  visit  to  the  Roads." '  Soon 
afterward  the  Merrimac  returned  to  Norfolk  for  neces- 
sary repairs. 

The  subsequent  careers  of  these  celebrated  ironclads 
were  short  and  tragic.  In  the  following  May  Norfolk 
was  abandoned  by  the  Confederates,  and  on  the  10th 
of  that  month  the  Merrimac  was  set  on  fire  and  on  the 
following  morning  she  blew  up.  Five  days  later  the 
crews  of  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac  again  met  in 
battle,  the  latter  being  on  shore.  After  the  destruction 
of  the  Merrimac  her  men  were  ordered  to  assist  in  the 
defenses  of  Richmond,  and  with  great  efforts  they 
erected  a  battery  of  three  32-pounders  and  two  64- 
pounders  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  and  on  May  15th  the  iron- 
clad Galena  (Commander  John  Rodgers),  the  Monitor, 
the  Port  Royal  and  the  Naugatuck  came  up  the  river 
within  six  hundred  yards  of  this  battery  and  opened 


1  Private  Journal  of  Rear-Admiral  Trenchard. 

2  Rear-Admiral  Thomas  Stowell  Phelps  to  the  author. 


262  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

fire.  Owing  to  the  great  height  of  the  bluffs  on  which 
the  Confederate  batteries  were  placed,  the  tire  from  the 
gunboats  was  not  so  effective,  but  two  guns  of  the  bat- 
tery were  dismounted,  and  several  Confederates  were 
killed  or  wounded.  After  a  battle  of  four  hours  the 
vessels  retired.  The  Galena  in  this  affair  had  thir- 
teen killed  and  eleven  wounded,  the  Port  Royal  one 
wounded,  and  the  Naugatuck  two  wounded ;  total, 
thirteen  killed  and  fourteen  wounded.  A  sheet-iron 
breastwork  about  four  feet  high  had  been  placed  on  the 
Monitor's  turret  as  a  protection  against  sharpshooters. 

On  the  29th  of  December  the  Monitor,  Commander 
John  Pine  Bankhead,  in  company  with  the  steamer 
Rhode  Island,  Captain  Stephen  Decatur  Trenchard, 
sailed  for  Beaufort,  N.  C.  Unusual  precautions  were 
taken  to  insure  the  safety  of  the  ironclad,  as  her  ex- 
periences on  her  trip  from  New  York  to  Hampton 
Roads  in  the  spring  gave  well-grounded  cause  for 
anxiety.  Commander  Trenchard  accordingly  gave  the 
following  night  orders:  "The  officer  of  the  deck  is 
directed  to  have  a  very  bright  lookout  kept  off  the 
bow  and  beam.  He  will  sound  at  ten  o'clock  and  in- 
form me  of  the  depth  of  water  ;  also  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  The  course  will  be  south-southeast  as  at 
present  steered  until  order  is  changed.  Keep  a  sharp 
lookout  upon  the  Monitor  astern,  and  should  she  sig- 
nal attend  to  it  at  once ;  then  report  to  me.  Inform 
me  of  every  change  of  wind  and  weather.  The  speed 
of  the  steamer  should  be  regulated  by  the  sea.  If  it 
increases,  moderate  the  speed  ;  if  smooth,  increase  it. 
Inform  me  when  the  steamer  has  made  sixty  miles 
from  10  P.  M."  ' 

The  following  day  was  pleasant,  and  when  off  Hat- 
teras  Shoals  the  steamer  State  of  Georgia,  with  the 
monitor  Passaic  in  tow,  passed  them  to  the  northeast, 
and  the  steamer  Gahanta  with  a  troop-ship  tow  came 

1  Private  Journal  of  Rear- Admiral  Trenchard. 


1863.  SINKING  OF  THE  MONITOR.  263 

in  sight.  About  7  P.  M.  the  wind  increased  in  violence, 
and  at  9  P.  M.  Bankhead  signaled  the  Rhode  Island  to 
stop.  "Finding  that  the  Monitor  had  fallen  off  into 
the  trough  of  the  sea  and  that  the  waves  were  making 
a  complete  breach  over  her,  we  started  the  engines 
again.  The  steamer  soon  brought  her  head  to  the 
wind  under  easy  steam,  when  the  Monitor  appeared 
to  make  better  weather. 

"At  11  P.M.  Captain  Bankhead  signaled  that  he 
required  assistance,  and  upon  stopping  the  engines 
and  on  the  Monitor  ranging  up  alongside,  he  hailed, 
and  said,  '  The  Monitor  is  sinking  ! '  Our  boats  were 
immediately  cleared  away,  and  arrangements  were 
made  to  get  the  officers  and  crew  from  the  sinking  iron- 
clad to  the  Rhode  Island  with  as  little  delay  as  possi- 
ble. The  port  hawser  with  which  we  were  towing  the 
Monitor  had  parted  in  the  early  part  of  the  evening, 
and  the  stream  cable  was  cut  by  some  one  on  board 
the  ironclad.  About  eleven  o'clock,  or  soon  afterward, 
our  boats  succeeded  in  getting  nearly  all  on  board,  and 
the  first  cutter  had  started  to  get  the  remainder  on 
board,  when,  unhappily,  about  1.30  A.  M.  on  the  31st 
of  December  the  Monitor  suddenly  disappeared.  Act- 
ing-Master's Mate  D.  Rodney  Brown  was  in  charge  of 
the  cutter,  having  with  him  Charles  H.  Smith,  cox- 
swain, Morris  Wagg,  coxswain,  Hugh  Logan,  captain 
of  the  afterguard,  Lewis  A.  Horton,  seaman,  George 
Moore,  seaman,  Luke  M.  Griswold,  ordinary  seaman, 
and  John  Jones,  landsman,  who  composed  the  crew  of 
the  boat.  We  lost  sight  of  the  cutter,  and  kept  as 
near  the  position  as  possible  until  daylight,  and  then 
cruised  up  in  the  direction  of  Hatteras  Shoals  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day  in  hopes  of  picking  up  our  boat."1 
Nothing  was  seen  of  the  boat,  however,  and  the  Rhode 
Island  made  for  Beaufort. 

The  fate  of  this  heroic  boat's  crew  was  almost  as 

1  Private  Journal  of  Rear-Admiral  Trcnchard. 


264  !RON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

tragic  as  that  of  the  Monitor  herself,  as  the  Rhode 
Islanders  learned  several  days  later.  Brown,  after 
having  made  two  trips  to  the  Monitor,  started  on  the 
third,  and  after  leaving  the  Rhode  Island  he  saw  the 
red  lights  burning  at  the  flagstaff  of  the  Monitor  and 
apparently  about  one  mile  distant.1  As  the  sea  and  the 
wind  were  "against  him  he  made  but  little  progress, 
yet  he  continued  gaining  until  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  Monitor,  when  the  light  suddenly  became 
extinguished.  It  appeared  to  settle  gradually  in  the 
water  as  he  approached  her,  and  then  it  disappeared 
altogether.  When  he  approached  to  what  he  supposed 
to.  be  the  position  of  the  vessel,  he  could  perceive  no 
other  trace  of  her  except  an  eddy  produced  by  the 
sinking  craft.  He  remained  near  that  position  as  long 
as  he  deemed  prudent,  in  order  to  rescue  any  of  the 
crew  who  might  be  in  the  water ;  but  he  found  none. 
He  then  started  for  the  Rhode  Island,  which  then  ap- 
peared to  be  two  miles  distant,  the  weather  being  over- 
cast and  attended  with  a  slight  rain,  the  wind  hauling 
off  to  the  north.  Soon  afterward  he  lost  sight  of  the 
Rhode  Island,  but  in  a  few  minutes  saw  the  first, 
second  and  third  lights.  This  is  the  last  he  saw  of 
the  Rhode  Island  that  night.  He  then  made  a  drag 
of  the  boat's  mast  by  which  he  kept  her  head  to  the 
sea,  the  men  being  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  a 
signal.  As  none  could  be  seen,  he  then  made  for  the 
northward  and  westward,  finding  the  sea  too  rough  to 
pull  directly  to  the  west,  hoping  to  fall  in  with  some 
coasting  vessel. 

"  Mr.  Brown  kept  the  boat's  crew  pulling  all  night 
in  order  to  overcome  the  great  strength  of  the  current. 
He  thought  that  if  they  did  not  do  this  they  would 
drift  far  away  from  the  track  of  all  vessels  before  day- 
light. At  break  of  day  he  discovered  a  schooner  some 
four  or  five  miles  away  from  them.  He  also  mentioned 

1  Brown's  official  report  to  Commander  Trenchard. 


1862.  SINKING  OF  THE  MONITOR.  265 

seeing  a  small  boat  some  distance  off  with  two  or  three 
men  in  her,  observing  her  as  she  rose  two  or  three 
times  upon  the  crest  of  a  wave  and  then  disappearing. 
At  this  time  Brown's  crew  was  engrossed  with  the  man- 
agement of  their  own  boat,  the  sea  being  very  irregu- 
lar and  the  waves  seeming  to  come  from  all  quarters. 
After  losing  sight  of  the  schooner  referred  to,  Mr. 
Brown  saw  a  large  ship  close  hauled,  the  wind  being 
from  the  northward  and  eastward.  He  had  approached 
her  sufficiently  near  to  make  out  the  men  upon  her 
decks,  but  she  passed  on  without  noticing  his  signals 
for  assistance.  He  then  pulled  directly  in  for  the  land, 
which  he  estimated  to  be  about  ten  miles  distant.  This 
was  about  half  past  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  De- 
cember 31st,  and  about  an  hour  afterward  he  made  a 
schooner  to  leeward.  He  got  up  the  crew's  coats  in 
order  to  make  the  sail,  and  broke  some  of  his  oars  to 
assist  in  rigging  the  sail.  He  then  ran  down  for  the 
schooner,  and  about  eleven  o'clock  managed  to  get 
alongside.  The  schooner  proved  to  be  the  A.  Colby, 
commanded  by  H.  D.  Harriman,  of  Buckport,  Me., 
bound  for  Fernandina,  with  bricks  for  Government 
use.  Mr.  Brown  and  his  crew  were  received  with  every 
kindness. 

"The  cutter  was  taken  aboard  the  schooner,  and 
Mr.  Harriman  was  requested  to  change  his  course  so 
far  as  to  land  the  officers  and  men  at  Beaufort,  N.  C. 
This  he  consented  to  do,  but  in  running  in  for  the 
coast,  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  more  correctly  his 
position,  having  been  without  an  observation  for  sev- 
eral days,  his  schooner  struck  on  Diamond  Shoals,  off 
Cape  Hatteras.  Being  laden  with  brick,  which  strained 
the  vessel  dangerously  every  time  she  struck  bottom,  it 
was  feared  that  the  A.  Colby  would  soon  go  to  pieces. 
As  it  was,  she  began  to  leak  dangerously.  Mr.  Harri- 
man managed  to  get  her  afloat,  and,  continuing  on  his 
course  for  Beaufort,  he  anchored  that  night  under  the 
land  near  Cape  Hatteras  inlet.  The  men  were  kept 


266  IRON  VERSUS  IRON.  1862. 

constantly  at  work  pumping  out  the  water  as  fast  as 
it  leaked  in.  On  the  following  day  they  sighted  a 
steamer,  and  made  the  signal  of  distress.  Harriman 
went  aboard  the  vessel,  which  proved  to  be  the  United 
States  gunboat  Miami,  Captain  Townsend.  Mr.  Har- 
riman reported  the  situation  of  his  schooner  and  the 
crew,  upon  which  Captain  Townsend  dispatched  a  boat 
with  twelve  men  to  assist  in  getting  the  schooner  into 
port. 

"That  same  afternoon  they  started  for  Beaufort, 
reaching  there  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  January."  ' 

1  Maclay's  Reminiscences  of  the  Old  Navy. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FOETS   HENRY  AND   DOKELSON. 

THE  Mississippi  River  has  been  called  the  ''Back- 
bone of  the  Rebellion."  From  the  outbreak  the  Con- 
federate leaders  realized  its  importance  in  extending 
their  territory  westward,  and  the  more  ambitious 
looked  to  an  ultimate  formation,  with  the  West  India 
Islands  and  Mexico,  of  one  great  slave  empire.  Pos- 
session of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  from  Smith- 
land  to  New  Orleans  gave  them  the  control  of  the  Red, 
Arkansas,  White,  Tennessee  and  Cumberland,  while 
the  conquest  of  the  enormous  basin  drained  by  their 
confluents  they  hoped  would  follow  in  the  course  of 
time.  It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  important 
part  that  the  Mississippi  River  played  in  this  great 
struggle.  In  New  Orleans,  the  center  of  the  mightiest 
river  system  in  the  world,  the  Confederacy  possessed  a 
considerable  plant  for  building  ironclads,  casting  great 
guns  and  making  small  arms,  and  there  skilled  me- 
chanics were  in  sympathy  with  the  cause.  From  the 
fertile  State  of  Texas— which,  being  remote  from  the 
seat  of  war,  escaped  its  ravages — immense  supplies  of 
beef  were  driven  across  the  Mississippi  to  the  Confed- 
erate army,  long  after  the  seaboard  States  had  been 
exhausted.  At  New  Orleans  enormous  quantities  of 
cotton,  collected  from  hundreds  of  miles  around  and 
placed  on  swift  vessels,  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the 
blockaders,  and  on  returning  supplied  the  secession- 
ists with  arms  and  munitions  of  war. 

No  one  was  more  alive  to  the  importance  of  this 
stream  than  the  Confederate  leaders  themselves.  From 

267 


268  FORTS  HENRY   AND   DONELSON.  1861. 

the  beginning  their  most  skillful  engineers  were  en- 
gaged in  fortifying  its  banks  from  Columbus  to  Forts 
Jackson  and  St.  Philip.  A  large  portion  of  the  money 
and  the  strength  of  the  South  was  massed  along  this 
river,  presenting  a  frowning  gantlet  through  which,  it 
was  confidently  asserted,  "no  craft  afloat  could  pass." 
Every  strategic  point  was  crowned  with  bristling  bat- 
teries, and  the  most  difficult  bends  were  obstructed 
until  one  formidable  line  of  fortifications  guarded  the 
river  for  a  thousand  miles.  Beginning  at  the  north, 
the  Confederates  erected  strong  batteries  at  Columbus, 
Island  No.  10,  Fort  Pillow,  Vicksburg  (which  may  be 
regarded  as  the  citadel  of  their  river  system  of  fortifica- 
tions), Grand  Gulf,  Port  Hudson,  Baton  Rouge  and 
Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip ;  so  that,  should  they 
lose  either  end  of  the  line,  their  troops  need  only  to 
fall  back  on  the  next  post,  gradually  concentrating 
their  forces  with  each  defeat,  until  their  entire  strength 
massed  at  Vicksburg  might  well  defy  the  armies  of  the 
North.  The  northernmost  line  of  defense  began  at  Co- 
lumbus, and  extended  eastward  by  Forts  Henry  and 
Donelson  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  rivers, 
through  Bowling  Green  to  Mill  Spring. 

The  first  measure  taken  by  the  Government  for  the 
repossession  of  the  Mississippi  was  the  construction  of 
a  squadron  of  gunboats  suitable  for  river  navigation 
and  operations  against  heavy  land  batteries.  No  naval 
station,  dockyard  or  arsenal  had  been  established  on 
the  Mississippi  or  its  tributaries,  as  an  enemy  had 
not  been  expected  in  that  quarter,  so  that  the  great 
undertaking  of  building  a  flotilla  of  war  vessels  had  to 
begin  with  constructing  the  plant  for  such  work.  This 
task  was  at  first  assumed  by  the  War  Department, 
as  it  was  thought  that  the  fortifications  on  the  Missis- 
sippi would  be  attacked  principally  by  land  forces  and 
only  a  few  transports  would  be  required.  In  the  spring 
of  1861  James  Buchanan  Eads  and  Commander  John 
Rodgers  went  to  Cairo  and  began  the  work  of  creating 


1861.  BUILDING   A   RIVER  FLEET.  269 

an  inland  navy.  In  May,  Commander  Rodgers  went  to 
Cincinnati,  where  he  purchased  the  side- wheel  steamers 
Conestoga,  A.  0.  Tyler  and  Lexington.  Their  boilers 
and  steam  pipes  were  lowered  into  the  hold  and  were 
partially  protected  by  coal  bunkers,  while  oak  bul- 
warks five  inches  thick,  and  pierced  for  guns,  shielded 
the  crew  from  musketry.  The  Conestoga  was  armed 
with  four  smooth-bore  32-pounders,  the  Tyler,  renamed 
Taylor,  with  six  8-inch  shell  guns  and  three  rifled  30- 
pounders,  while  the  Lexington  mounted  four  8-inch 
smooth-bore  guns,  one  32-pounder  and  two  rifled  30- 
pounders.  On  the  12th  of  August  these  improvised 
war  vessels  were  taken  to  Cairo.  In  the  earlier  opera- 
tions these  gunboats  did  not  carry  rifled  guns,  and  at 
the  battle  of  Belmont  they  did  not  have  stern  guns. 

In  the  mean  time  the  War  Department  advertised 
for  seven  flat-bottomed  vessels,  capable  of  mounting 
thirteen  heavy  guns  each,  and  drawing  not  more  than 
six  feet  of  water.  They  were  to  be  about  six  hundred 
tons  burden,  fitted  with  high-pressure  engines,  capable 
of  steaming  nine  miles  an  hour,  to  be  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet  long  and  fifty-one  and  a  half  feet  wide. 
Their  wooden  hulls  had  sides  inclined  inward  from  the 
water's  edge  at  an  angle  of  thirty-five  degrees.  As 
these  vessels  were  expected  to  fight  bows  on,  the  for- 
ward casemate  was  built  with  twenty-four  inches  of 
solid  oak,  covered  with  two  and  a  half  inches  of  iron. 
The  same  thickness  of  iron  was  laid  abreast  of  the 
boilers  and  engines,  but  without  the  wood  backing, 
which  left  the  stern  and  the  sides,  forward  and  abaft 
of  the  machinery,  vulnerable.  The  conical  pilot  house 
was  built  with  heavy  oak  and  plated  on  the  forward 
side  with  two  and  a  half  inches  of  iron,  and  on  the 
after  side  with  one  and  a  half  inches  of  iron.  The 
armaments  of  these  gunboats  were  made  up  of  such 
cannon  as  could  be  picked  up  at  the  moment.  Thirty- 
five  old-fashioned  42-pounders  supplied  by  the  army 
were  rifled,  which  weakened  them,  as  they  were  not  re- 


270  FORTS  HENRY  AND  DONELSON.  1861. 

enforced  by  steel  bands.  They  were  always  regarded 
as  dangerous,  and  several  of  them  burst. 

These  vessels  were  to  be  propelled  by  a  wheel  in 
the  middle,  sixty  feet  forward  of  the  stern,  covered  by 
the  casemate.  This  left  a  chasm  in  the  stem  of  the 
same  width  as  the  paddle  wheel,  eighteen  feet.  This 
chasm  in  the  hull  of  the  vessel  was  planked  over  and 
was  called  the  fantail.  These  vessels  mounting  thirteen 
guns  (generally  three  8-inch  shell  guns,  six  32-pounders 
and  four  rifled  42-pounders),  were  named  the  De  Kalb 
(St.  Louis\  the  Carondelet,  the  Cincinnati,  the  Louis- 
ville, the  Mound  City,  the  Cairo  and  the  Pittsburgh. 
They  were  built  by  Mr.  Eads.  They  were  begun  in 
August,  1861,  and  by  working  day  and  night  and  seven 
days  in  the  week  they  were  launched  and  ready  for 
their  armaments  and  crews  within  one  hundred  days. 

Before  the  completion  of  these  ironclads  Mr.  Eads 
converted  the  snag  boat  Benton,  of  about  one  thousand 
tons  burden,  into  a  formidable  gunboat.  She  was  con- 
structed on  two  hulls,  twenty  feet  apart,  which  were 
braced  together  with  heavy  timbers,  the  space  between 
the  two  hulls  being  planked  so  that  there  was  a  contin- 
uous flat  bottom.  The  upper  side  was  decked  over  in 
the  same  manner,  and  by  extending  the  outer  sides  of 
the  two  hulls  until  they  joined  each  other  forward 
and  aft  the  twin  boats  became  one  wide  substantial 
hull.  The  false  bottom  of  the  Benton  was  carried 
within  fifty  feet  of  the  stern,  where  it  was  brought  up 
to  the  deck  so  as  to  leave  a  space  open  for  a  wheel, 
which  was  turned  by  the  original  engine  of  the  snag 
boat.  Thus  altered,  the  Benton  was  two  hundred  and 
two  feet  long  and  had  seventy-two  feet  beam.  A  case- 
mate covered  with  iron  plates  was  built  on  her  deck, 
slanting  inward  at  an  angle  of  about  thirty-five  degrees, 
and  this  casemate  was  carried  up  so  as  to  cover  the 
wheel.  On  the  bow  the  casemate  was  plated  with  three 
and  a  half  inches  of  iron  backed  by  thirty  inches  of 
oak,  while  the  wheelhouse  and  stern  were  covered  with 


1861.  COMPLICATED  AUTHORITY.  271 

two  and  a  half  inches  of  iron  and  twelve  inches  of 
oak.  The  rest  of  the  casemate  was  covered  with  f-inch 
iron.  Thus  completed,  the  Benton  drew  nine  feet  of 
water  and  made  about  five  miles  an  hour.  She  was 
armed  with  two  9-inch  shell  guns,  four  rifled  42-pound- 
ers,  two  rifled  50-pounders  and  eight  smooth-bore  32- 
pounders.  Another  vessel,  the  Essex,  named  after  the 
Essex  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  commanded  by  William 
David  Porter,  a  son  of  Captain  David  Porter,  was 
armed  with  one  10-inch,  three  9-inch,  one  32-pounder 
and  two  rifled  50-pounders.  Besides  these  vessels 
there  were  thirty-eight  mortar  boats  or  rafts,  each 
mounting  one  13-inch  mortar.  Commander  Porter  had 
two  sons  in  the  Confederate  service. 

The  difficulty  of  manning  these  vessels  was  even 
greater  than  that  of  building  them.  Their  crews,  as 
finally  brought  together,  consisted  of  landsmen,  steam- 
boat hands,  soldiers  and  seamen.  Five  hundred  sail- 
ors arrived  from  the  Atlantic  States  in  November,  1861, 
and  on  the  23d  of  December  eleven  hundred  troops 
were  ordered  for  the  service  from  Washington.  The 
mixed  character  of  these  crews  gave  rise  to  many  diffi- 
culties, Major-Greneral  Halleck  insisting  that  the  offi- 
cers of  the  regiments  from  which  the  troops  came 
should  accompany  the  men  and  owe  no  obedience  to 
naval  officers  except  to  a  commander  of  the  gunboat. 
This  necessarily  caused  confusion  and  prevented  a 
large  number  of  troops  from  serving.  On  the  30th  of 
August,  1861,  Captain  Andrew  Hull  Foote  was  ap- 
pointed commander  of  the  Western  flotilla.  Arriving 
at  Cairo  on  the  12th  of  September,  he  found  his  move- 
ments greatly  embarrassed  by  "want  of  funds  and  ma- 
terial for  naval  purposes."  At  the  time  of  his  arrival 
he  had  only  the  rank  corresponding  to  colonel,  and  he 
very  properly  complained  that  "  every  brigadier  could 
interfere  with  him."  Even  when  he  received  his  ap- 
pointment as  flag  officer,  November  13,  1862,  which 
gave  him  the  relative  rank  of  major-general,  the  naval 


272  FORTS  HENRY  AND  DONELSON.  1861. 

officers  under  him  were  constantly  liable  to  be  harassed 
by  conflicting  orders  from  any  superior  army  officer 
under  whom  they  might  be  serving.  With  this  emi- 
nently improper  complication  of  authority  the  early 
operations  of  the  Western  flotilla  were  carried  on,  and 
it  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  both  the  navy  and  the 
army  officers  that  they  got  along  as  harmoniously  as 
they  did.  It  was  not  until  July,  1863,  that  the  fleet 
was  transferred  to  the  Navy  Department.  There  is 
another  class  of  men  who  served  in  these  gunboats  who 
should  be  honorably  mentioned — the  pilots.  These 
men,  although  denied  all  the  professional  advantages 
of  officers,  and  cut  off  from  all  hope  of  regular  promo- 
tion, served,  as  a  rule,  loyally  and  with  conspicuous 
gallantry  all  through  the  naval  operations  on  the 
Western  rivers.  It  called  for  unusual  bravery  to  act 
as  a  pilot  in  this  service,  as  it  was  well  known  that 
the  pilot  house  would  be  the  first  and  last  target  of  the 
enemy,  for,  the  pilot  killed  or  disabled,  the  gunboat 
was  practically  thrown  out  of  action.  The  pilot  house 
might  well  be  called  the  slaughter  pen,  for  in  the  ac- 
tion at  Fort  Henry  two  pilots  were  killed — Marshall 
H.  Ford  and  James  McBride ;  in  the  Fort  Donelson 
affair  two  more  were  killed — Frank  Riley  and  William 
Hinton — and  others  were  wounded,  two  of  the  gun- 
boats dropping  out  of  action  largely  for  this  reason. 
Another  pilot  was  killed  just  above  Fort  Donelson, 
while  the  number  of  officers  who  were  killed  or  wound- 
ed in  their  pilot  houses  shows  that  it  was  pre-eminently 
a  post  of  danger. 

The  neutral  attitude  assumed  by  Kentucky  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  at  first  made  both  sides  reluctant 
to  invade  her  territory ;  but  early  in  September  the 
Confederates  occupied  Columbus  and  Hickman,  upon 
which  General  Grant  seized  Paducah  and  Smithland. 
In  September,  Grant,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
troops  in  Cairo,  determined  to  march  against  Norfolk, 
eight  or  nine  miles  below,  where  a  considerable  body 


1861.  BATTLE  OF  NORFOLK.  273 

of  Confederates  had  assembled.  Accordingly,  on  the 
10th  of  September  the  gunboats  Lexington,  Com- 
mander Roger  N.  Stembel,  and  Conestoga,  Lieutenant 
S.  Ledyard  Phelps,  dropped  down  the  river  so  as  to 
support  the  troops.  A  few  miles  down  the  Lexington 
was  fired  upon  by  a  battery  of  sixteen  field  pieces, 
supported  by  a  body  of  cavalry  that  assisted  in  mov- 
ing the  artillery  from  place  to  place  along  the  river 
bank.  But  the  Confederate  guns  were  too  light  to 
effect  much  damage,  and  shells  from  the  gunboats, 
bursting  among  the  horsemen,  scattered  them. 

The  Lexington  pursued  and  drove  them  under  the 
guns  of  their  fortifications  at  Columbus.  On  the  same 
afternoon  the  Confederate  gunboat  Yankee  came  up 
the  river  and  opened  fire  at  long  range  on  the  Con- 
estoga and  the  Lexington.  The  first  shot  from  the 
Conestoga's  heavy  gun  compelled  the  Yankee  to  re- 
treat, and  when  she  was  about  two  miles  distant  an 
8-inch  shell  from  the  Lexington  exploded  on  her  star- 
board wheelhouse,  which  so  injured  her  that  only  one 
engine  could  be  used  in  reaching  Columbus.  As  the 
National  gunboats  were  retiring  from  this  skirmish  one 
man  was  severely  wounded  by  fire  from  an  ambush. 
On  the  24th  of  September  the  Lexington  moved  up  the 
Ohio  River,  where  she  was  joined  a  few  days  later  by 
the  Conestoga^  and  visited  several  points  on  the  Cum- 
berland, Tennessee,  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  The 
appearance  of  these  gunboats  did  much  toward  keep- 
ing alive  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  National  cause. 
On  the  28th  of  October  the  Conestoga  broke  up  a  Con- 
federate camp  on  the  Cumberland,  inflicting  a  loss  of 
several  killed  and  wounded.  Although  these  opera- 
tions were  not  important,  yet  they  proved  to  be  excel- 
lent practice  for  the  green  crews,  and  accustomed  them 
to  the  strange  craft  they  were  manning. 

Early  in  November  Grant  advanced  upon  Belmont 
for  the  purpose  of  destroying  a  Confederate  camp,  and 
also  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  sending  troops  into  Mis- 

63 


274 


FORTS   HENRY  AND  DONELSON. 


1861. 


souri  to  interfere  with  an  expedition  that  had  been  sent 
into  that  State  for  the  purpose  of  driving  General  M. 
Jeff.  Thompson  out  of  it.  Accordingly,  on  the  evening 
of  November  6th,  the  Tyler,  Commander  Henry  Walke, 


MISSOURI 


Norfolk" 

Belmont  «/t  Columbus 
fiewMadi; 


Hickman 


Memphis 


SCENE  OF  THE 
NAVAL,  OPERATION 
OTf  THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 


and  the  Lexington,  Commander  Stembel,  dropped  down 
the  river  to  convoy  a  half  dozen  transports,  and  en- 
gaged the  batteries  at  Columbus  with  a  view  of  divert- 
ing the  enemy's  attention  from  the  real  point  of  attack. 
Moving  in  a  circle  so  as  to  prevent  the  enemy  estab- 
lishing the  range,  these  gunboats,  on  November  7th, 
opened  fire  ;  but  as  they  were  not  capable  of  engaging 
the  formidable  batteries  at  close  quarters,  they  soon 


1861.  BATTLE  OP  BELMOXT.  275 

drew  out  of  range.  They  returned,  however,  several 
times  during  the  day  and  opened  a  spirited  fire.  In 
the  last  attack  a  shot  passed  obliquely  through  the 
Tyler's  side,  deck  and  scantling,  killed  one  man  and 
wounded  two  others.  Finding  that  the  firing  in  the 
direction  of  Belmont  had  ceased,  the  gunboat  dis- 
charged a  few  more  broadsides  and  then  returned  to 
the  landing  where  the  transports  were  anchored.  The 
troops  under  General  Grant,  having  accomplished  their 
purpose,  were  returning,  and  soon  appeared  at  the  land- 
ing, pursued  by  a  superior  force  of  Confederates.  As 
the  Southerners  eagerly  pressed  forward  in  anticipation 
of  cutting  off  the  retreat  of  the  National  troops  before 
they  could  embark  in  their  transports,  the  gunboats 
opened  with  shell  and  grape. 

An  eyewitness  says:  "The  enemy  planted  their 
fresh  artillery,  supported  by  infantry,  in  a  cornfield 
just  above  our  transports  with  the  intention  of  sinking 
them  when  we  started  up  the  river,  and  of  bagging 
the  entire  army ;  but  thanks  to  the  gunboats  Tyler  and 
Lexington  and  their  experienced  gunners,  they  saved 
us  from  a  terrible  doom.  They  took  up  a  position  be- 
tween us  and  the  enemy  and  opened  their  guns  upon 
them,  letting  slip  a  whole  broadside  at  once.  This 
movement  was  performed  so  quickly  that  the  Con- 
federates could  not  fire  on  us.  Their  guns  were  si- 
lenced as  soon  as  they  opened,  or  probably  were  dis- 
mounted. The  first  shot  from  the  gunboats  made  a 
perfect  lane  through  the  enemy's  ranks."  The  Con- 
federates endeavored  to  reply  with  musketry,  but  with- 
out effect,  and  the  fire  from  the  gunboats  soon  put 
them  to  flight.  As  the  National  vessels  were  returning 
to  Cairo  Commander  Walke  learned  that  some  of  our 
troops  had  been  left  behind.  He  promptly  put  down 
the  river  and  met  straggling  groups  of  soldiers  who 
were  directed  to  go  on  board  the  transports.  Satisfied 
that  all  had  been  rescued,  Walke  rejoined  the  vessels 
up  the  river. 


276  FORTS  HENRY   AND  DONELSON.  18G1-'G2. 

On  the  11  tli  of  January,  1862,  Commander  Porter, 
of  the  Essex,  was  informed  that  seven  Confederate 
steamers,  having  in  tow  a  floating  battery,  were  mov- 
ing up  the  river  from  Columbus.  Immediately  signal- 
ing Lieutenant  Leonard  Paulding,  of  the  De  Kalb, 
Commander  Porter  stood  down  the  river.  A  heavy  fog 
obstructed  the  view  until  about  ten  o'clock,  when  the 
mist  rolled  aside  and  revealed  a  large  vessel  at  the 
head  of  a  bend,  in  company  with  two  steamers.  The 
National  gunboats  immediately  bore  down  to  close. 
When  at  longe  range  the  enemy  opened  with  a  heavy 
shell  gun,  and  the  missile  struck  a  sandbar  and  rico- 
chetted  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  Essex,  when 
it  exploded.  The  Essex  did  not  immediately  reply,  but 
moved  steadily  downstream  until  at  long  range,  when 
the  De  Kalb  discharged  a  rifled  gun,  immediately  after 
which  the  Essex  opened,  and  for  twenty  minutes  an 
animated  tire  was  maintained  on  both  sides.  At  the 
end  of  this  time  the  enemy  retired,  rounding  to  once 
in  a  while  to  fire  a  broadside.  The  Essex  and  the  De 
Kalb  kept  up  a  running  fight  until  the  chase,  in  a  crip- 
pled condition,  ran  under  the  cover  of  the  battery 
above  Columbus. 

The  first  of  the  three  strongholds  that  constituted 
the  Confederate  northern  line  of  defense  in  the  West 
was  Fort  Henry,  on  Tennessee  River.  This  was  an 
earthwork  with  five  bastions  on  low  ground  at  a  bend 
in  the  river,  mounting  one  10-inch  columbiad,  one  6- 
inch  rifled  gun,  two  42-pounders,  eight  32-pounders, 
five  18-pounders  and  four  12-pounders.  The  garrison 
consisted  of  the  Fourth  and  Seventh  Mississippi,  the 
First  Kentucky,  one  Louisiana  regiment,  and  a  cavalry 
company  under  the  command  of  Brigadier-General 
Lloyd  Tilghman.  The  plan  of  attack  was  to  send  fif- 
teen regiments  of  infantry,  with  several  batteries  of 
artillery  and  a  body  of  horse,  to  make  a  reconnoissance 
toward  Columbus,  with  a  view  of  deceiving  the  enemy 
as  to  the  real  point  of  attack.  At  the  same  time  Brig- 


1862.  RIVER  SKIRMISHING.  277 

adier-General  C.  F.  Smith,  with  six  thousand  men,  was 
to  march  overland  to  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  but 
on  reaching  Paducah  they  were  to  return,  so  as  to  lead 
the  enemy  to  believe  that  the  expedition  on  Fort  Henry 
had  been  abandoned. 

On  the  morning  of  February  2,  1862,  the  naval  part 
of  the  expedition,  under  command  of  Captain  Foote, 
left  Cairo,  and  in  the  evening  it  reached  the  mouth  of 
Tennessee  River.  This  force  consisted  of  the  Cincin- 
nati (flagship),  Commander  Stembel ;  the  Essex,  Com- 
mander Porter ;  the  Carondelet,  Commander  Walke  ; 
the  De  Kalb,  Lieutenant  Paulding ;  and  the  wooden 
gunboats  Conestoga,  Lieutenant  Phelps ;  Lexington, 
Lieutenant  James  W.  Shirk  ;  and  Tyler,  Lieutenant 
William  Gwin.  These  vessels  when  approaching  the 
fort  were  ordered  to  keep  in  constant  motion  by  steam- 
ing ahead  or  dropping  back  with  the  current,  so  as 
to  destroy  the  enemy's  range,  at  the  same  time  keep- 
ing their  heavily  protected  bows  toward  the  fort. 
On  the  4th  of  February  the  squadron  anchored  six 
miles  below  Fort  Henry,  where  the  troops  were  landed 
and  stationed  at  several  points,  so  as  to  prevent  re- 
enforcements  from  reaching  the  garrison  and  cut  off 
all  avenues  of  escape  in  case  the  fort  surrendered.  On 
the  5th  of  March  General  Grant  and  his  staff  went 
aboard  the  Essex  and  ran  close  up  to  the  forts  to  recon- 
noiter.  While  they  were  thus  engaged  the  enemy 
opened  fire  and  sent  a  shot  through  the  officers'  quar- 
ters and  into  the  steerage,  upon  which  the  Essex  drew 
out  of  range  and  returned  to  her  anchorage. 

Heavy  rains  had  raised  the  river  to  an  unusual 
height,  and  had  so  accelerated  the  current  that  at  times 
it  required  a  full  head  of  steam  and  both  anchors  to 
keep  some  of  the  ironclads  in  place.  Immense  quan- 
tities of  logs  and  trees  also  came  down  the  river,  keep- 
ing the  officers  and  men  at  work  day  and  night  to  dis- 
encumber their  vessels.  Although  this  unlooked-for 
difficulty  exhausted  the  crews  before  the  attack  was 


278  FORTS   HENRY  AND   DONELSON.  1862. 

begun,  yet  it  proved  a  most  fortunate  occurrence,  inas- 
much as  the  torpedoes  that  the  enemy  had  thickly 
planted  in  the  river  were  dragged  from  their  moorings 
and  carried  harmlessly  away.  At  10.20  A.  M.  on  the 
6th  of  February  signal  was  made  for  the  gunboats  to 
clear  for  action,  and  half  an  hour  later  they  got  under 
way  and  steamed  up  the  river,  the  four  ironclads  lead- 
ing the  way,  the  Carondelet  and  the  De  Kalb,  lashed 
together,  on  the  left  wing,  as  the  stream  was  narrow 
at  this  point,  while  the  Cincinnati  and  the  Essex  were 
on  the  right,  thus  presenting  an  ironclad  battery  of 
twelve  guns  toward  the  enemy.  The  three  wooden 
gunboats  followed  about  a  mile  astern.  At  11.30  A.  M. 
the  ironclads,  rounding  a  bend  in  the  stream,  suddenly 
came  in  full  view  of  the  fort,  and  an  hour  later,  while 
at  a  distance  of  seventeen  hundred  yards,  the  Cincin- 
nati fired  the  first  shot  as  the  signal  for  the  battle  to 
open.  This  promptly  drew  the  enemy's  fire,  and  their 
rifled  shells  were  soon  heard  on  all  sides.  The  iron- 
clads steadily  pushed  up  the  stream  until  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  fort,  where  they  main- 
tained a  well-contested  action.  At  first  the  Confeder- 
ates fired  with  greater  precision  than  the  gunboats,  as 
they  had  long  since  obtained  the  exact  range  of  the 
position  that  any  vessel  must  take  in  approaching  ;  but 
as  the  National  gunboats  drew  nearer  their  fire  became 
effective  and  the  walls  of  the  fort  rapidly  crumbled 
before  the  blows  of  solid  shot  and  exploding  shell. 
The  Confederate  gunners  were  much  exposed  in  their 
open  earthwork,  while  their  opponents  were  partially 
protected  by  casemates. 

A  little  before  one  o'clock  a  shot  penetrated  the 
Essex's  armor  just  above  a  porthole  on  the  port  side, 
killing  Acting-Master' s-Mate  S.  B.  Brittan,  Jr.,  and 
pierced  the  middle  boiler.  Instantly  the  forward  gun- 
room was  filled  with  scalding  steam,  which  caused  fear- 
ful havoc.  Those  who  could  rushed  aft,  others  leaped 
into  the  river  through  the  ports,  while  Commander 


1 


1862.  DEATH  BY  STEAM.  2^9 

Porter  himself  barely  escaped  with  his  life  through  a 
port  on  the  starboard  side.  He  was  badly  wounded, 
and  was  rescued  from  the  river  by  a  seaman  named 
John  Walker.  Twenty-eight  men  were  scalded,  and 
many  of  them  died.  The  shellman  of  gun  No.  2, 
James  Coffey,  was  found  on  his  knees  in  the  act  of 
taking  a  shell  from  the  box.  While  he  was  in  this 
position  the  scalding  steam  had  struck  him  full  in  the 
face,  killing  him  instantly.  The  two  pilots  were  found 
dead  in  the  pilot  house,  one  of  them,  Marshall  Ford, 
with  his  left  hand  holding  a  spoke  of  the  wheel  and  his 
right  hand  grasping  the  signal-bell  rope.  Thus  crip- 
pled, the  Essex  drifted  out  of  action,  but  the  remaining 
ironclads  maintained  the  battle  with  unflinching  zeal 
and  made  encouraging  progress,  for  two  of  the  enemy's 
guns  were  disabled,  one  by  bursting  and  the  10-inch  co- 
lumbiad  by  having  its  priming- wire  jammed  in  the  vent. 

"Precisely  forty  minutes  past  one1  the  enemy,  after 
a  most  determined  resistance,  surrendered,  and  shortly 
afterward  the  fort  was  occupied  by  a  detachment  of 
seamen  under  Commander  Walke.  While  the  Essex 
was  drifting  helplessly  out  of  action  the  news  of  the 
surrender  reached  her,  and  a  seaman  named  Jasper  T. 
Breas,  who  was  badly  scalded,  sprang  to  his  feet  ex- 
claiming, *  Surrender !  I  must  see  that  with  my  own 
eyes  before  I  die.'  Before  any  one  could  interfere  he 
clambered  up  two  short  flights  of  stairs  to  the  spar 
deck,  shouted  *  Glory  to  Grod ! '  and  sank  exhausted. 
He  died  that  night." 

In  this  sharp  action  the  De  Kalb  was  struck  seven 
times,  but  none  of  her  people  were  hurt.  Thirty-one 
shot  struck  the  Cincinnati,  and  one,  passing  through 
a  paddle  wheel,  killed  one  man  and  wounded  several 
others.  Two  of  her  guns  were  disabled,  while  her 
smokestack,  after  cabin  and  boats  were  riddled  through 
and  through.  The  Carondelet  fired  one  hundred  and 

1  Correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette. 


280  FORTS  HENRY  AND   DONELSON.  1862. 

seven  shot  and  shell.  She  was  struck  thirty  times, 
eight  shot  taking  effect  within  two  feet  of  the  bow 
ports  on  a  direct  line  with  the  boiler  ;  but  none  of  her 
men  were  injured.  The  Essex  fired  in  all  seventy-two 
shot  from  her  two  9-inch  guns.  Her  total  loss  was 
thirty-two  killed,  wounded  or  missing.  The  wooden 
gunboats,  being  less  formidable  to  the  Confederates,  es- 
caped with  little  notice.  Aside  from  the  men  who  were 
injured  by  scalding,  the  squadron  had  two  men  killed 
and  nine  wounded.  The  enemy's  loss  is  placed  at  five 
killed,  eleven  wounded  and  five  missing.  Seventy- 
eight  prisoners  were  taken,  while  the  remainder  of  the 
garrison,  numbering  two  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  men,  escaped  to  Fort  Donelson. 

Immediately  upon  the  surrender  of  the  fort  the 
gunboats  Conestoga,  Tyler  and  Lexington  hastened  up 
the  river  in  pursuit  of  several  steamers  which  were  seen 
getting  under  way.  Toward  evening  they  reached  a 
railroad  bridge  twenty -five  miles  up  the  river,  and  the 
enemy,  after  passing  it,  had  jammed  the  machinery  for 
hoisting  the  draw  so  that  it  could  not  be  readily  raised. 
Observing  the  escaping  vessels  on  the  other  side,  and 
believing  them  to  be  laden  with  troops  and  valuable 
stores,  Lieutenant  Phelps  ordered  some  men  ashore, 
and  after  an  hour  of  hard  work  they  managed  to  force 
the  draw.  The  Tyler  was  then  left  to  destroy  the  rail- 
road, while  the  Conestoga  and  the  Lexington  resumed 
the  pursuit,  and  with  such  success  that  toward  mid- 
night two  of  the  chase  were  blown  up  by  their  own 
men.  So  great  was  the  force  of  the  explosion  that, 
although  the  National  gunboats  were  half  a  mile  away, 
much  of  their  glass  work  was  broken  in,  the  doors 
were  started  and  the  light  upper  deck  lifted.  On  the 
evening  of  the  next  day  (February  7th)  the  gunboats 
reached  Cerro  Gordo,  where  they  captured  the  large 
steamer  Eastport,  which  was  being  plated  with  iron. 

The  Tyler  was  left  to  guard  the  Eastport  and  take 
aboard  large  quantities  of  lumber,  while  the  Lexington 


1862.  A  LIVELY  CHASE  UP  THE  TENNESSEE.  2S1 

and  the  Conestoga  continued  up  the  river.  At  Chicka- 
saw  two  steamers  were  captured,  one  laden  with  iron. 
Pushing  on  to  Muscle  Shoals,  the  gunboats  captured 
three  steamers  that  had  been  set  on  fire  by  the  enemy, 
and  a  portion  of  their  cargo  and  military  stores  was 
saved.  Returning  down  the  river,  a  detachment  of 
men  was  landed  to  destroy  the  baggage  and  stores  of  a 
Confederate  camp  that  had  been  hastily  abandoned. 
The  gunboats  returned  to  Cairo  with  the  Eastport  and 
one  steamer  on  the  llth.  The  Eastport  was  built  on  a 
beautiful  model  and  had  great  speed.  Her  hull  was 
sheathed  with  oak,  and  bulwarks  of  oak  increased  her 
strength.  When  she  was  taken  into  the  National  serv- 
ice her  boilers  were  lowered  into  the  hold.  In  the  Red 
River  expedition,  two  years  later,  she  was  partially  de- 
stroyed by  a  torpedo,  and,  finding  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  save  her,  Phelps,  then  lieutenant  commander, 
blew  her  up. 

The  next  attack  on  the  Confederate  northerly  line 
of  defense  was  directed  against  Fort  Donelson.  This 
work  was  built  on  a  bold  bluff  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  above  the  level  of  Cumberland  River,  on  the  west 
side,  about  twelve  miles  from  Fort  Henry.  It  was 
garrisoned  by  fifteen  thousand  troops  under  Brigadier- 
Generals  Gideon  Johnson  Pillow  and  Simon  Bolivar 
Buckner.  The  defenses  of  the  place  were  divided  into 
three  batteries,  the  first  mounting  nine  32-pounders 
and  one  10-inch  columbiad,  about  twenty  feet  above 
the  water's  edge ;  another,  armed  with  one  columbiad, 
rifled  as  a  32-pounder,  and  two  32- pound  carronades, 
about  fifty  feet  above  the  river ;  while  a  third  battery, 
mounting  three  or  four  heavy  guns,  crowned  the  bluff. 
On  the  12th  of  February  the  Carondelet,  Commander 
Walke,  towed  by  the  transport  Alps,  arrived  a  few 
miles  below  this  formidable  work,  and,  casting  off 
boldly,  steamed  toward  the  Confederates  to  engage 
them  single-handed  ;  but  everything  about  the  fort 
was  quiet ;  not  a  gunner  was  to  be  seen.  At  12.50  the 


282  FORTS  HENRY  AND  DONELSON.  1862. 

Carondelet  announced  her  presence  by  the  discharge  of 
her  three  bow  shell  guns  ;  but  even  this  failed  to  draw 
a  response,  and  after  ten  shells  had  been  dropped  in 
and  around  the  silent  batteries  Commander  Walke  re- 
tired and  anchored  three  miles  below,  the  enemy  at 
this  time  being  wholly  engrossed  by  a  land  movement 
of  the  twenty  thousand  troops  under  General  Grant. 
The  Confederate  sharpshooters  on  the  banks,  however, 
soon  gave  evidence  of  their  presence,  and  were  con- 
stantly on  the  watch  to  pick  off  any  man  exposing 
himself  outside  of  the  casemates  or  in  the  open  ports. 

The  next  morning,  February  13th,  the  Carondelet,  at 
the  request  of  Grant,  again  moved  toward  the  batteries, 
and  at  five  minutes  after  nine  o'clock  opened  tire.  This 
time  the  enemy  promptly  replied  with  all  the  guns 
that  bore,  but  owing  to  a  heavily  wooded  point  of  land 
which  intervened  they  caused  little  damage.  The  gun- 
boat fired  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  shells  at  the  bat- 
teries, killing  one  of  the  engineer  officers  of  the  fort  and 
doing  considerable  injury.  At  11.30  A.  M.  a  128-pound 
solid  shot  penetrated  the  Carondelefs  casemate  on  the 
port  side',  and  "in  its  progress  toward  the  center  of 
our  boilers  glanced  over  the  temporary  barricades  in 
front  of  them  and  then  passed  over  the  steam  drum, 
struck  the  beams  of  the  upper  deck,  carried  away  the 
railing  around  the  engine  room  and  burst  the  steam 
heater,  and  then,  glancing  back  into  the  engine  room, 
'seemed  to  bound  after  the  men,'  as  one  of  the  engi- 
neers said,  'like  a  wild  beast  pursuing  its  prey.'  .  .  . 
When  it  burst  through  the  side  of  the  Carondelet  it 
knocked  down  and  wounded  a  dozen  men.  An  im- 
mense quantity  of  splinters  were  blown  through  the 
vessel ;  some  of  them,  as  fine  as  needles,  shot  through 
the  clothes  of  the  men  like  arrows."  ! 

After  receiving  this  shot  the  Carondelet  drew  out  of 
range  to  repair  damages,  but  at  12.15  P.  M.  she  again 

1  Rear- Admiral  Walke,  Battles  and  Leaders,  Civil  War,  vol.  i,  p.  431. 


1862.  THE  CARONDELET  AT  FORT   DONELSON.  283 

returned  to  the  attack  and  maintained  a  stubborn  ac- 
tion until  nearly  dark,  when  she  retired.  At  half  past 
eleven  o'clock  that  night  Flag-Officer  Foote  arrived  on 
the  scene  of  action  with  his  gunboats,  making  the  en- 
tire naval  force  in  the  river  oif  Fort  Donelson  as  fol- 
lows :  The  ironclads  St.  Louis  (flagship),  Lieutenant 
Paulding  ;  Louisville,  Commander  Benjamin  M.  Dove ; 
Carondelet,  Commander  Walke ;  and  Pittsburgh,  Lieu- 
tenant Egbert  Thompson  ;  and  the  wooden  gunboats 
Tyler,  Lieutenant  Gwin,  and  Conestoga,  Lieutenant 
Phelps.  The  morning  of  February  14th  was  taken  up 
with  preparations  for  a  serious  attack  from  the  river. 
Owing  to  the  great  height  of  the  Confederate  batteries, 
the  upper  decks  of  the  ironclads  were  exposed  to 
plunging  shot,  besides  which  shot  from  the  upper  bat- 
tery would  strike  the  sloping  bulwarks  of  the  gunboats 
almost  at  right  angles.  To  guard  as  much  as  possible 
against  this,  chains,  lumber,  bags  of  coal  and  hard  ma- 
terial of  all  descriptions  were  strewn  on  deck  so  as  to 
break  the  force  of  heavy  shot  from  the  heights. 

"At  2  P.  M.  precisely  the  signal  was  given  from 
the  flagship  to  get  under  way."1  The  four  ironclads 
formed  as  nearly  in  a  line  abreast  as  the  narrow  river 
would  admit,  the  Carondelet  on  the  left,  then  the  Pitts- 
burgh and  the  St.  Louis,  with  the  Louisville  on  the 
extreme  right,  the  two  wooden  gunboats  being  sta- 
tioned about  half  a  mile  astern.  At  3.30  P.  M.,  when 
the  flotilla  had  proceeded  about  a  third  of  a  mile,  the 
upper  battery  fired  two  shot  by  way  of  testing  the 
distance.  Without  replying,  Captain  Foote  steamed 
ahead  until  within  a  mile  of  the  batteries,  when  he 
fired  his  starboard  rifled  gun,  which  was  followed  by 
those  of  the  Louisville,  the  Pittsburgh  and  the  Ca- 
rondelet in  rapid  succession.  These  missiles  fell  short, 
but  at  the  next  round  a  slight  elevation  of  the  guns 
caused  the  shot  and  shell  to  fall  in  and  around  the 

1  Correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette,  who  was  in  the  Louisville. 


234:  FORTS  HENRY  AND  DONELSON.  1862. 

fort  with  great  precision.  The  vessels  rapidly  dimin- 
ished the  distance  between  them  and  the  fort  to  six 
and  finally  to  four  hundred  yards.  From  this  time 
the  firing  on  both  sides  became  rapid  and  more  accu- 
rate. The  narrowness  of  the  stream  somewhat  disar- 
ranged the  National  line  of  battle,  so  that  the  St.  Louis 
was  compelled  to  take  the  lead,  closely  followed  by 
the  Louisville,  the  Pittsburgh  and  the  Carondelet, 
thus  presenting  a  formidable  battery  of  twelve  guns  to 
the  enemy.  A  large  shell  from  the  Louisville  exploded 
under  a  gun  in  the  water  battery,  dismounted  the  piece 
and  killed  a  dozen  or  more  men. 

But  the  gunboats  also  suffered  severely.  They  were 
repeatedly  struck  by  solid  shot,  some  of  which  pene- 
trated the  iron  mail  and  caused  fearful  havoc  on  the 
crowded  decks.  One  shot  struck  the  Louisville  at  the 
angle  of  the  upper  deck  and  pilot  house,  penetrated 
the  iron  plating  and  heavy  timber  backing,  and  buried 
itself  in  a  pile  of  hammocks  in  a  direct  line  with  the 
boiler.  Soon  afterward  a  shell  raked  her  from  stem  to 
stern,  passed  through  the  wheel  house,  and  exploded 
in  the  river  just  astern.  This  was  followed  by  a  solid 
10-inch  shot,  which  entered  the  starboard  bow  port, 
wrecked  the  gun  carriage,  killed  three  men,  wounded 
four,  and  passed  through  the  entire  length  of  the  gun 
deck  and  into  the  river  beyond.  To  finish  the  work  of 
destruction,  a  shell  passed  through  the  starboard  for- 
ward port,  killed  one  man,  wounded  two,  and  disabled 
the  steering-gear  so  as  to  make  the  boat  unmanageable, 
and  compelled  her  to  drop  out  of  action. 

The  flagship  St.  Louis  was  struck  fifty -nine  times, 
but  only  one  shot  penetrated.  This  one,  however,  en- 
tered the  pilot  house  and  exploded,  killing  the  pilot 
and  severely  wounding  Captain  Foote.  Soon  after- 
ward her  wheel  ropes  were  carried  away,  so  that  she 
drifted  helplessly  out  of  action  with  the  Louisville. 
The  Carondelet  also  was  handled  severely.  A  128- 
pound  shot  smashed  her  anchor  into  flying  bolts,  and, 


18G2.  GALLANT  ATTACK  OP   THE  GUNBOATS.  285 

bounding  over  the  casemate,  carried  away  a  portion 
of  the  smokestack.  Another  shot  penetrated  her  iron 
mail,  but  was  checked  by  the  heavy  timber  backing, 
and  a  third  missile  struck  her  square  on  the  pilot 
house,  sending  a  shower  of  iron  fragments  and  splin- 
ters, which  killed  one  of  the  pilots.  Everything  out- 
side of  the  ironclad  was  swept  away — boats,  smoke- 
stack, davits  and  flagstaff — while  the  iron  plates  were 
ripped  and  torn  as  if  struck  by  lightning.  In  their 
eagerness  to  fire  the  gunners  in  the  Carondelet  loaded 
too  hastily,  and  a  rifled  gun  exploded,  knocking  down 
a  dozen  men,  but  fortunately  killed  no  one. 

The  Pittsburgh  was  struck  by  forty  shot,  two  of 
which  entered  below  the  guards  and  caused  her  to  leak 
so  much  that  it  was  feared  she  would  sink  before  morn- 
ing. In  turning  round  to  draw  out  of  range  she  fouled 
the  Carondelefs  stern,  breaking  her  starboard  rudder. 
This  compelled  Commander  Walke  to  go  ahead  in  or- 
der to  clear  the  Pittsburgh,  so  that  he  found  himself 
within  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  batteries 
at  a  moment  when  his  consorts  were  drifting  out  of 
action  in  a  disabled  condition.  Taking  in  the  situation 
at  a  glance,  and  greatly  encouraged  by  the  results  of 
the  engagement  so  far,  the  Confederates  turned  their 
remaining  guns  on  the  Carondelet  with  renewed  vigor. 
There  was  no  alternative  .for  Commander  Walke  but  to 
drop  out  of  action  also,  and  this  he  did,  keeping  his 
bow  toward  the  enemy,  slowly  retiring  and  deliberately 
firing  so  long  as  he  was  in  range.  Two  32-pound  shot 
entered  the  Carondelet }s  bow  between  wind  and  water, 
which  undoubtedly  would  have  sunk  her  had  not  the 
water-tight  compartments  kept  her  afloat  until  the 
shot  holes  could  be  plugged.  She  was  struck  fifty- 
nine  times,  and  everything  outside  of  her  casemate 
was  carried  away.  The  smokestack  was  riddled;  six 
shot  struck  the  pilot  house,  shattering  one  section 
to  pieces  and  cutting  through  the  iron  plating;  four 
struck  the  casing  forward  of  the  rifled  gun,  and 


286  FORTS  HENRY  AND   DONELSON.  1862. 

three  on  the  starboard  side.     One  of  her  rifled  guns 
burst. 

Commander  Walke  said:  "Our  gunners  kept  up  a 
constant  firing  while  we  were  falling  back,  and  the 
warning  words  *  Look  out ! '  *  Down ! '  were  often  heard 
and  heeded  by  nearly  all  the  gun  crews.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  the  men  were  at  the  muzzle  of  the  middle 
bow  gun  loading  it,  the  warning  came  just  in  time  for 
them  to  jump  aside  as  a  32-pound  shot  struck  the  lower 
sill  and  glancing  up  struck  the  upper  sill,  then  falling 
on  the  inner  edge  of  the  lower  sill  bounded  on  deck  and 
spun  around  like  a  top,  but  hurt  no  one.  It  was  very 
evident  that  if  the  men  who  were  loading  had  not 
obeyed  the  order  to  drop,  several  of  them  would  have 
been  killed.  So  I  repeated  the  instructions  and  warned 
the  men  of  the  guns  and  the  crew  generally  to  bow  or 
stand  off  from  the  ports  when  a  shot  was  seen  coming. 
But  some  of  the  young  men,  from  a  spirit  of  bravado 
or  from  a  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  fatalism,  disre- 
garded the  instructions,  saying  it  was  useless  to  at- 
tempt to  dodge  a  cannon  ball,  and  they  would  trust 
to  luck.  The  warning  words  '  Look  out ! '  '  Down  ! ' 
were  again  soon  heard.  Down  went  the  gunner  and 
his  men  as  the  whizzing  shot  glanced  on  the  gun,  tak- 
ing off  the  gunner's  cap  and  the  heads  of  two  of  the 
young  men  who  trusted  to  luck  and  in  defiance  of  the 
order  were  standing  up  or  passing  behind  him.  This 
shot  killed  another  man  also  who  was  at  the  last  gun 
of  the  starboard  side,  and  disabled  the  gun.  It  came 
in  with  a  hissing  sound,  and  three  sharp  spats  and  a 
heavy  bang  told  the  sad  fate  of  three  brave  comrades. 
Before  the  decks  were  well  sanded  there  was  so  much 
blood  on  them  that  our  men  could  not  work  the  guns 
without  slipping." l  The  following  day,  February  15th, 
Grant  followed  up  the  attack  of  the  gunboats  by  a  com- 
bined assault  of  the  navy  and  army,  and  early  on  the 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  i,  p.  435. 


1862.  A  CONFEDERATE  COUP  DE  MAIN.  287 

morning  of  the  16th  the  fort  surrendered.  The  loss  to 
the  gunboats  on  the  14th  was  one  man  killed  and  nine 
wounded  in  the  St.  Louis,  two  wounded  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh, four  killed  and  six  wounded  in  the  Louisville 
and  six  killed  and  twenty-six  wounded  in  the  Caron- 
delet;  total,  eleven  killed  and  forty-three  wounded. 

The  capture  of  Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Donelson  broke 
the  first  line  of  defense,  and  compelled  the  Confederates 
to  abandon  Bowling  Green  on  the  east  and  Columbus 
on  the  west,  the  latter  place  being  occupied  by  Captain 
Foote  on  the  2d  of  March.  The  Confederates  then 
formed  a  second  and  perhaps  more  formidable  line,  hav- 
ing Island  No.  10  on  the  west  and  extending  eastward 
through  Corinth.  Here  they  made  a  most  determined 
effort  not  only  to  hold  their  position,  but  by  a  coup  de 
main  to  overwhelm  the  National  army  in  Tennessee, 
regain  the  lost  ground  and  assume  the  offensive.  They 
expected  that  the  powerful  ironclads  of  the  Merrimac 
type  then  being  built  at  New  Orleans,  Yazoo  River 
and  other  points  along  the  Mississippi  would  make 
short  work  of  the  comparatively  frail  gunboats  under 
Captain  Foote.  This  would  give  them  the  all-impor- 
tant command  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  many  tributary 
waters,  and  enable  them  to  carry  the  war  far  into  the 
Northern  States.  At  the  same  time,  by  suddenly  mass- 
ing their  forces  on  some  point  of  the  widely  extended 
National  line  they  hoped  to  sweep  all  before  them. 
This  was  not  altogether  fancy  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
federate leaders.  Their  plans  were  perfect,  and  their 
success  might  have  been  complete  had  it  not  been  for 
an  unexpected  check  given  by  the  two  insignificant 
wooden  gunboats  Tyler  and  Lexington. 

In  pursuance  of  this  brilliant  scheme,  General  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston,  after  leaving  enough  troops  to  hold 
Island  No.  10,  ordered  the  divisions  under  Generals 
Beauregard,  Bragg,  Hardee  and  Breckenridge  quietly 
to  concentrate  at  Corinth,  from  which  place  they  were 
to  overwhelm  Grant's  army  at  Pittsburg  Landing,  and 


288  FORTS  HENRY  AND   DONELSON.  1862. 

then,  proceeding  rapidly  down  the  Tennessee  River,  re- 
capture Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Donelson  before  they 
could  be  re-enforced.  This  done,  the  way  would  be 
clear  for  an  invasion  of  the  North.  By  the  5th  of  April 
the  Confederate  troops  had  been  massed  around  Cor- 
inth. The  National  army  was  encamped  in  the  form 
of  a  semicircle  just  above  Pittsburg  Landing,  not  more 
than  fifteen  miles  distant,  both  wings  resting  near  the 
river,  while  the  center  swelled  out  five  miles  from  its 
banks.  About  daybreak,  April  6th,  the  enemy  began 
a  furious  assault  on  the  National  center,  intending  to 
crush  it  and  then  sweep  around  so  as  to  attack  the 
wings  in  the  rear.  The  division  under  General  Pren- 
tiss,  which  held  the  center,  stubbornly  contested  the 
ground,  but  was  gradually  forced  back,  until  by  10 
A.  M.  the  enemy  was  in  possession  of  the  camp.  The 
Confederates  then  wheeled  round  to  annihilate  the  wing 
under  General  Hurlburt,  which  guarded  the  stores  at 
Pittsburg  Landing,  and  by  3  p.  M.  they  had  nearly  ac- 
complished their  purpose ;  for  the  National  troops, 
though  fighting  gallantly,  were  swept  back  in  confu- 
sion, the  river  cutting  oif  their  retreat.  There  was  now 
a  pause  in  the  battle  while  the  victorious  Confederates 
massed  their  forces  for  a  final  charge  to  capture  the 
landing  with  all  the  army  stores. 

During  the  progress  of  the  great  battle  the  Tyler, 
Lieutenant  Gwin,  and  the  Lexington,  Lieutenant 
Shirk,  moved  up  and  down  the  river,  seeking  an  op- 
portunity to  reach  the  enemy.  At  1.25  p.  M.  Lieuten- 
ant Gwin  sent  a  messenger  to  General  Hurlburt  asking 
permission  to  open  on  the  enemy,  and  was  directed  to 
do  so,  the  general  expressing  himself  "grateful  for 
this  offer  of  support,  saying  that  without  re-enforce- 
ments he  would  not  be  able  to  maintain  the  position  he 
then  occupied  for  an  hour."  The  Tyler  at  2.30  P.  M. 
opened  on  a  battery  and  in  half  an  hour  silenced  it, 
and  at  3.50  p.  M.  she  dropped  down  to  the  landing  op- 
posite Pittsburg,  where  she  was  joined  by  the  Lexing- 


1862.  BATTLE   OF  PITTSBURG  LANDING.  289 

ton.  The  two  gunboats  took  a  position  where  their 
guns  would  sweep  a  ravine  through  which  the  enemy 
was  compelled  to  pass  in  his  final  charge.  At  5.30 
p.  M.  the  Confederates  started  from  cover  with  yells 
of  confidence,  and  wave  after  wave  of  glistening  bayo- 
nets rolled  from  the  woods  across  the  ravine.  At  this 
moment  the  gunboats  opened  at  short  range,  together 
with  a  battery  of  32-pounders  hastily  prepared  by 
Colonel  Joseph  D.  Webster,  and  swept  the  ravine 
.from  end  to  end  with  a  terrific  fire  of  shot,  shell  and 
shrapnel. 

The  Confederates  had  not  anticipated  the  fire  of 
the  gunboats,  and  in  their  eagerness  to  seize  the  prize 
so  nearly  in  their  grasp  they  rushed  on  to  destruc- 
tion. Hissing  shells  tore  bloody  chasms  in  their 
lines,  and,  exploding,  struck  down  the  men  in  wide 
circles,  while  a  pitiless  storm  of  grape  and  canister 
sprinkled  death  on  all  sides.  No  mortal  army  could 
withstand  such  a  terrific  fire,  and  gradually  the  enemy 
fell  back,  until  at  6.30  P.  M.  they  retired  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  gunboats.  During  the  night  the  Confed- 
erates occupied  the  captured  camps,  where  the  gun- 
boats kept  dropping  shells  among  them  until  daylight. 
The  battle  was  renewed  with  fresh  troops  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  when  the  enemy  was  compelled  to  retreat. 
Not  a  man  in  the  gunboats  had  been  injured.  The 
Tyler  alone  threw  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  shells 
at  point-blank  range. 

After  the  surrender  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson 
the  presence  of  National  gunboats  in  these  rivers  was 
necessary,  as  guerrillas  were  a  constant  menace  to  the 
army  lines  of  communication.  This  hazardous  service 
was  gallantly  performed  by  the  gunboats  under  Cap- 
tain Alexander  M.  Pennock.  On  the  30th  of  January, 

1863,  Captain  Pennock  sent  the  Lexington,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  S.  Ledyard  Phelps,  up  the  Cumberland 
River.     Twenty  miles  above  Clarksville  Phelps  landed 
and  burned  a  house  that  had  been  used  as  a  head- 

64 


290  FORTS  HENRY  AND  DONELSON.  1863. 

quarters  by  the  enemy.  Returning  from  this  expedi- 
tion, the  Lexington  was  fired  upon  by  a  battery  of 
heavy  guns,  and  although  struck  three  times  she  soon 
silenced  the  enemy. 

While  moving  up  Cumberland  River  with  a  number 
of  transports  under  convoy  of  the  Lexington  and  five 
light-draught  gunboats,  February  3d,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Le  Roy  Fitch  learned  that  Colonel  Harding, 
commanding  the  garrison  of  eight  hundred  men  oppo- 
site Fort  Donelson,  was  surrounded  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing force  of  Confederates  and  that  his  ammunition  was 
exhausted.  Hastening  to  the  scene  of  battle  with  his 
six  gunboats,  Fitch  stationed  his  vessels  where  they 
could  sweep  a  graveyard  in  which  the  main  body  of 
the  enemy  was  stationed,  and  opened  a  terrific  fire. 
Being  thus  unexpectedly  attacked  in  the  rear,  the  Con- 
federates fled  in  confusion,  leaving  one  hundred  and 
forty  of  their  dead  on  the  field.  Fitch  afterward  went 
up  the  Tennessee  as  far  as  Florence,  dispersing  bodies 
of  Confederate  troops  wherever  found.  On  the  24th  of 
April,  Fitch,  in  the  Lexington,  assisted  Ellet's  vessels 
in  silencing  a  Confederate  battery.  When  General  J. 
H.  Morgan  made  his  raid  into  Ohio,  July,  1863,  Fitch 
stationed  his  gunboats  at  various  points  along  the  Ohio 
River  to  cut  off  the  enemy's  retreat.  On  the  19th  of 
July,  in  the  little  gunboat  Moose,  he  overtook  the  Con- 
federates at  a  ford  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  east  of 
Cincinnati,  and  notwithstanding  a  battery  of  two  field 
pieces  the  Moose  prevented  the  enemy  from  crossing. 
This  compelled  the  Confederates  to  abandon  their 
wounded  and  dismounted  men  and  to  scatter  in  a  head- 
long flight.  The  Moose  kept  abreast  of  them  and  frus- 
trated two  other  efforts  to  cross,  and  she  did  not  relin- 
quish the  chase  until  the  water  was  too  shoal  even  for 
her. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ISLAND   NO.    10   AND   MEMPHIS. 

WHEN  General  Johnston  concentrated  his  forces  at 
Corinth  with  a  view  of  overwhelming  Grant  at  Pitts- 
burg  Landing,  he  left  enough  men,  as  he  thought, 
to  hold  the  powerful  fortifications  at  Island  No.  10 
against  any  force  that  could  be  brought  against  them. 
This  place  was  of  great  strategic  strength.  The  earth- 
works on  the  island  itself  were  from  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  thick,  and  mounted  two  10-inch  columbiads,  four 
8-inch  guns,  five  32-pounders  and  five  64-pounders. 
Opposite  the  island,  on  the  Kentucky  shore,  were 
mounted  thirty  heavy  guns,  while  a  floating  battery  of 
sixteen  guns  was  anchored  just  below  battery  No.  1  on 
Island  No.  10.  A  line  of  hulks  obstructed  the  northern 
channel,  compelling  vessels  to  pass  on  the  southern  side, 
where  they  were  exposed  at  short  range  to  the  fire  of 
about  sixty  heavy  guns.  At  the  northern  bend  of  the 
river  was  New  Madrid,  held  by  several  thousand  Con- 
federate soldiers,  and  fortified  so  as  to  guard  Island 
No.  10  on  the  Missouri  side ;  and  below  New  Madrid, 
on  the  eastern  shore,  were  planted  batteries  which  pre- 
vented a  force  from  crossing  at  that  point.  All  land 
approaches  to  the  fortifications  around  Island  No.  10, 
on  the  south,  were  cut  off  by  impassable  swamps.  On 
the  15th  of  March  Captain  Foote  appeared  before  Island 
No.  10  with  twelve  hundred  troops  under  Colonel  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  Buford  ;  eleven  mortar  boats  under  Cap- 
tain Henry  E.  Maynadier ;  and  the  ironclads  Benton 
(flagship),  Lieutenant  S.  Ledyard  Phelps  ;  Carondelet, 
Commander  Henry  Walke ;  St.  Louis,  Lieutenant  Leon- 

291 


292 


ISLAND  NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS. 


1862. 


ard  Paulding ;  Mound  City,  Commander  Augustus 
Henry  Kilty ;  and  Pittsburgh,  Lieutenant  Egbert 
Thompson. 

At  this  time  the  river  was  swollen  by  rains  and  had 
overflowed  its  banks,  sweeping  houses,  fences  and 
lumber  down  the  stream  in  its  rapid  current.  The 
heavy  ironclads,  whose  engines  even  in  ordinary  times 
made  slow  progress  upstream,  were  now  barely  able  to 
save  themselves  from  being  swept  under  the  enemy's 
guns.  In  their  action  with  Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Don- 
elson  they  had  approached  the  enemy  from  below,  so 
that  in  case  their  machinery  became  disabled — which 
happened  in  both  of  these  attacks — they  could  drift 
out  of  range  ;  but  in  attacking  Island  No.  10  the  situ- 
ation was  reversed,  and  should  the  engines  of  a  gun- 


Point 
Pleasant 


Island  No.  10. 


boat  become  impaired  it  would  be  swept  helplessly 
under  the  enemy's  guns.     Realizing  the  difficulty  of 


1862.  OPERATIONS  AGAINST  ISLAND  NO.  10.  293 

the  situation,  and  well  knowing  how  dependent  the 
movements  of  the  land  forces  were  on  the  gunboats, 
Captain  Foote  acted  with  great  caution.  This  was  the 
more  necessary  as  the  ironclad  Louisiana  was  nearly 
ready  for  service,  and  with  other  ironclads  of  her  type 
was  expected  up  the  river  in  a  short  time  to  give  battle. 
Should  the  National  gunboats  be  worsted  in  such  an 
action  (and  the  recent  achievements  of  the  Merrimac 
gave  reason  for  fearing  it),  the  great  cities  of  the  North- 
west would  be  exposed  to  an  attack  from  the  Con- 
federates. 

On  the  16th  of  March  the  mortar  boats,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Maynadier,  of  the  army,  and  Com- 
mander Joseph  P.  Sanford,  of  the  navy,  were  placed  in 
position,  and  opened  with  some  effect ;  but,  owing  to 
the  great  distance,  their  fire  was  without  important 
results.  On  the  17th  the  ironclads  moved  down  for  a 
more  serious  attack  ;  the  Benton,  owing  to  her  deficient 
steam  power,  was  lashed  between  the  Cincinnati  arid 
the  St.  Louis  and  moved  down  the  eastern  side  of  the 
river,  while  the  Mound  City,  the  Carondelet  and  the 
Pittsburgh  took  the  western  side.  At  1.20  p.  M.  they 
opened  fire  on  the  upper  batteries  on  Island  No.  10  at 
long  range,  and  the  enemy  promptly  responded  ;  but 
no  serious  damage  was  inflicted  on  either  side.  The 
Benton  was  struck  four  times,  but  the  greatest  injury 
was  occasioned  by  the  bursting  of  a  rifled  gun  aboard  the 
St.  Louis,  by  which  fifteen  men  were  killed  or  wounded, 
among  the  latter  being  Lieutenant  Faulding. 

From  the  17th  to  the  26th  of  March,  during  which 
time  General  Johnston  was  beginning  to  carry  out  his 
plan  of  massing  his  forces  at  Corinth,  little  was  done 
toward  reducing  the  enemy's  stronghold  at  Island  No. 
10.  The  National  forces  maintained  a  desultory  fire, 
inflicting  some  trifling  damage  which  was  speedily  re- 
paired, and  the  only  immediate  result  of  the  bombard- 
ment was  to  afford  amusement  rather  than  annoyance 
to  the  Confederates.  Yet  it  lulled  them  into  a  greater 


294  ISLAND  NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS.  1862. 

sense  of  security.  On  the  23d  of  March,  while  the 
Carondelet  was  close  under  the  shore,  two  large  trees 
fell  without  warning  on  her  decks,  wounding  two  men, 
one  mortally.  While  this  tedious  bombardment  was 
in  progress,  General  Pope,  with  two  thousand  troops, 
had  been  working  around  the  Confederate  position 
with  a  view  of  cutting  off  retreat,  and  by  blockading 
the  river  twelve  miles  below  Point  Pleasant  he  com- 
pelled them  to  evacuate  New  Madrid.  The  enemy  was 
now  hemmed  in  on  three  sides,  being  cut  off  on  the  north 
and  the  west  by  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  east  by  an 
impassable  swamp,  so  that  his  only  avenue  for  sup- 
plies or  retreat  was  on  the  south  side.  It  was  this 
southern  opening  that  General  Pope  desired  to  close, 
but  as  the  enemy  controlled  the  river  below  Island  No. 
10  with  heavy  batteries  on  the  eastern  bank,  he  could 
not  attain  his  object  without  the  aid  of  the  gunboats. 
It  was  finally  suggested  that  one  of  the  ironclads  at- 
tempt to  run  the  batteries,  but  in  a  council  of  officers 
this  was  declared  to  be  too  hazardous. 

It  was  then  determined  to  cut  a  canal  from  Island 
No.  8  across  the  swamps  to  New  Madrid,  and  in  that 
way  get  the  ironclads  below  the  Confederate  strong- 
hold. After  a  vast  amount  of  labor  and  exposure  to 
the  miasma  of  the  marshes,  the  canal  was  cut  in  nine- 
teen days  ;  but  it  was  found  that  the  gunboats  could 
not  pass  through  it,  and  even  the  smaller  transports 
could  get  through  only  with  difficulty.  In  the  mean 
time  the  Confederate  ironclads  being  built  at  various 
points  along  the  Mississippi  were  rapidly  approaching 
completion,  and  they  would  have  no  difficulty  in  re- 
lieving the  garrison  of  Island  No.  10  and  compelling 
Captain  Foote  to  act  on  the  defensive.  Such  being  the 
serious  extremity  to  which  the  National  flotilla  was 
placed,  another  council  of  officers  was  held  in  the 
Benton  on  the  28th  and  29th  of  March,  but  with  one 
exception  it  was  unanimously  decided  that  it  would  be 
too  hazardous  to  risk  an  ironclad  in  an  attempt  to  run 


1862.  A   DARING  NIGHT  ATTACK.  295 

the  Confederate  batteries.  The  one  exception  was  Com- 
mander Walke,  of  the  Carondelet,  who  volunteered  to 
take  his  vessel  past  the  batteries,  and  obtained  the  re- 
luctant permission  of  Captain  Foot  to  do  so. 

While  these  preparations  were  under  way  one  of 
those  daring  exploits  which  have  ever  characterized  the 
American  navy  was  undertaken.  On  the  night  of 
April  1st  forty  picked  sailors  under  the  command  of 
Master  John  V.  Johnston,  and  fifty  soldiers  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  George  Washington  Roberts,  of 
the  Forty-second  Illinois  Regiment,  embarked  in  five 
barges,  and,  pushing  out  from  the  shadow  of  the  wil- 
lows that  fringed  the  Kentucky  shore,  dropped  down 
the  river  with  the  current  toward  the  Confederate  lines. 
Strict  silence  was  observed,  and  even  the  muffled  oars 
were  used  only  once  in  a  while  to  give  the  barges  steer- 
age way.  Thus  for  an  hour  the  boats  glided  down- 
stream, stealing  along  the  shores  in  the  shadow  of  the 
overhanging  trees  and  availing  themselves  of  every 
means  of  concealment.  They  arrived  within  a  few  rods 
of  the  first  battery  above  Island  No.  10  before  they  were 
discovered.  Here  they  were  challenged  by  a  sentinel, 
and  almost  at  the  same  instant  the  order  "Give  way  ! " 
was  heard.  The  oars  splashed  in  the  water  and  the 
barges  dashed  toward  the  battery  at  full  speed.  The 
sentinel  discharged  his  musket  and  fled  to  give  the 
alarm.  The  boats  ran  ashore,  the  men  landed,  stationed 
their  guards,  and  in  half  an  hour  had  spiked  the  seven 
guns  of  this  battery,  one  of  them  a  formidable  10-inch 
columbiad.  They  then  returned  to  their  boats  and  es- 
caped up  the  river  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 

One  of  the  obstacles  to  the  passage  of  the  Caronde- 
let being  thus  removed,  Captain  Foote  directed  the 
fire  of  his  mortars  toward  the  floating  battery,  which 
was  moored  near  the  head  of  the  island.  Fortunately, 
a  shell  cut  her  moorings,  and  she  was  carried  three 
miles  below  her  station  before  she  could  be  secured 
again.  Having  received  his  orders  to  run  the  batteries 


296  ISLAND  NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS.  1862. 

on  the  "  first  foggy  or  rainy  night,"  and  in  case  of  fail- 
ure to  "destroy  the  steam  machinery,  and,  if  impossi- 
ble to  escape,  set  fire  to  your  gunboat  or  sink  her  and 
prevent  her  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy," 
Commander  Walke  made  preparations  for  running  the 
gantlet.  An  11-inch  hawser  was  coiled  round  the  pilot 
house  to  a  level  with  the  windows,  chains  and  cables 
were  placed  over  the  more  vulnerable  parts  of  the  ma- 
chinery, planks  taken  from  the  wreck  of  a  barge  were 
strewn  over  the  deck  as  an  additional  protection  against 
plunging  shot,  while  hammocks  were  stowed  in  the  net- 
ting and  cord  wood  was  piled  round  the  boilers.  A 
barge  laden  with  coal  and  baled  hay  was  then  lashed 
along  the  port  side  so  as  to  protect  the  magazine,  and 
a  course  of  bales  was  laid  over  the  after  end  of  the 
casemate,  as  that  part  of  the  ironclad  after  she  had 
passed  the  batteries  would  be  exposed.  As  a  precau- 
tion against  discovery,  the  escape  steam,  which  in  the 
high-pressure  engines  made  a  loud  puffing  noise,  was  led 
into  the  paddle-wheel  house  so  as  to  deaden  the  sound. 
By  the  4th  of  April  these  preparations  had  been 
nearly  completed,  and  Commander  Walke  announced 
his  intention  of  attempting  the  passage  that  night  if 
the  weather  was  favorable.  During  the  day  the  heav- 
ens were  watched  with  the  closest  scrutiny,  the  weather- 
wise  tars  scanning  each  cloud  and  "  tasting  "  each  puff 
of  air  with  serious  countenances  as  they  discussed  the 
probabilities  of  the  weather.  As  the  afternoon  wore 
on  and  the  indications  for  a  clear  and  starlit  night  be- 
came more  pronounced,  the  seamen  grew  more  gloomy. 
But  as  evening  drew  near  dark  clouds  were  observed 
massing  on  the  western  horizon,  and  shortly  afterward 
the  wind,  shifting  in  that  direction,  brought  to  their 
ears  the  faint  muttering  of  distant  thunder.  At  the 
same  time  a  light  haze  was  noticed  creeping  up  the 
river,  and  as  evening  approached  it  gradually  diffused 
itself  over  the  surrounding  landscape  and  finally  en- 
shrouded everything  in  a  damp  fog.  The  happy  omen 


1862.  WALKE  RUNS  THE   BATTERIES.  297 

put  every  man  on  the  alert.  The  final  preparations 
were  completed  with  alacrity;  the  guns  were  run  in 
and  the  ports  carefully  closed,  so  that  no  stray  beam  of 
light  would  discover  them  to  the  enemy  ;  small  arms, 
cutlasses  and  boarding- pikes  were  stacked  in  conven- 
ient reach,  while  hose  was  attached  to  the  boilers  to 
turn  streams  of  scalding  steam  on  the  enemy  in  case 
they  attempted  to  board. 

By  ten  o'clock  the  moon  had  disappeared,  leaving 
the  river  in  darkness,  while  the  threatening  storm- 
clouds  that  had  been  massing  in  the  west  lowered  over 
the  scene  and  finally  broke  in  a  drenching  rain.  Com- 
mander Walke  now  gave  the  order  to  cast  off  the  lines. 
The  Carondelet  swung  heavily  into  the  current  and 
was  soon  plunging  downstream.  By  the  time  she  was 
fully  under  way  the  night  was  black  as  pitch,  so  that 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  keep  clear  of  the 
shoals  and  banks  had  it  not  been  for  the  frequent  and 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning  that  illuminated  the  river 
with  dazzling  brilliancy,  giving  occasional  glimpses  of 
the  drenched  landscape  and  the  trees  bending  under 
the  storm.  For  half  an  hour  the  men  on  the  gun  deck 
stood  at  their  stations  in  grim  silence,  hearing  nothing 
but  whistling  of  the  wind  and  incessant  pattering  of 
rain  on  the  deck  above  them.  Onward  glided  the 
phantom  gunboat  under  the  skillful  piloting  of  Acting- 
Volunteer-Lieutenant  William  K.  Hoel,  and  all  went 
well  until  the  Carondelet  had  passed  the  battery  that 
had  been  so  daringly  spiked  on  the  night  of  April  1st, 
when  the  soot  in  both  smokestacks  took  fire  and  blazed 
upward  in  the  black  night  like  two  immense  torches. 
This  mishap  was  caused  by  the  escaped  steam  being  led 
into  the  paddle-wheel  house  to  drown  the  puffing  noise. 
Ordinarily  this  steam  passed  into  the  smokestacks  and 
kept  the  soot  moist,  thus  preventing  its  taking  fire. 
The  firemen  were  immediately  called  away  and  the 
flames  were  extinguished,  so  that  the  Carondelet  was 
again  wrapped  in  darkness.  But  the  alarm  had  been 


298  ISLAND  NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS.  1862. 

given,  and  though  the  cannon  in  this  battery  had  been 
effectually  spiked,  signal  rockets  were  sent  up  giving 
notice  to  the  lower  batteries  of  an  approaching  enemy. 
There  was  warm  work  ahead  for  the  Carondelet. 

Commander  Walke  soon  realized  that  he  was  in  the 
midst  of  an  aroused  and  powerful  enemy,  and  if  he 
would  accomplish  his  purpose  he  must  act  with  deter- 
mination and  promptness.  Full  speed  was  ordered, 
and  the  ironclad  dashed  through  the  darkness  at  a 
dangerous  rate.  When  she  was  opposite  the  second 
battery  on  the  shore  the  smokestacks  again  took  fire 
and  revealed  her  exact  position.  Then  began  a  crash 
of  heavy  artillery  and  a  rattling  fire  of  musketry  on  all 
sides.  Without  replying,  the  Carondelet  sped  on  her 
way  down  the  river.  Realizing  the  extreme  peril  of 
their  position,  and  knowing  that  the  safety  of  all  de- 
pended upon  .an  uninterrupted  and  speedy  passage  of 
the  batteries,  the  heroic  pilot,  Hoel,  in  order  the  better 
to  guide  the  boat  down  the  river,  took  his  station  with 
the  leadsmen,  Charles  Wilson  and  Theodore  Gilmore, 
forward  on  the  open  deck,  exposed  to  the  drenching 
rain  and  the  enemy's  shot.  The  lead  was  continuously 
kept  going,  for  the  course  of  the  gunboat  was  rendered 
doubly  uncertain  by  the  broad  surface  presented  to  the 
current,  which  among  the  many  abrupt  bends  and  ed- 
dies would  frequently  give  her  a  sheer  toward  some 
bank  or  shoal  before  it  was  discovered.  In  a  few  min- 
utes of  total  darkness  a  brilliant  flash  of  lightning 
showed  that  the  Carondelet  was  rushing  directly  upon 
a  dangerous  shoal  under  the  guns  of  the  Confederate 
battery.  Instantly  the  watchful  pilot  cried  out  "  Hard 
aport ! "  and  the  clumsy  craft  swung  heavily  around, 
almost  grazing  the  island,  and  so  near  that  the  voice  of 
a  Confederate  officer  was  distinctly  heard  ordering  his 
men  to  elevate  the  guns,  the  Confederates  having  low- 
ered  the  muzzles  of  their  cannon  to  keep  the  rain  from 
destroying  the  charges  of  powder  in  them. 

After  this  narrow  escape  the  Carondelet  passed  the 


1862.  WALKE'S  SUCCESS.  299 

remaining  batteries  on  the  island  unscathed.  The 
enemy,  deceived  by  the  flashes  of  lightning,  had  ele- 
vated their  guns  too  much,  so  that  most  of  their  shot 
went  over.  Only  one  obstacle  now  remained  in  the 
course  of  the  Carondelet,  and  that  was  the  formidable 
floating  battery  three  miles  below  the  island  moored  to 
the  western  bank.  As  the  Carondelet  was  not  in  fight- 
ing trim,  Commander  Walke  hugged  the  opposite  shore, 
to  give  the  enemy  as  wide  a  berth  as  possible.  But  the 
dreaded  battery  offered  little  opposition  to  the  flight  of 
the  National  gunboat,  firing  only  seven  or  eight  shot 
at  her.  The  Carondelet  had  now  safely  passed  the 
Confederate  batteries  and  had  added  another  to  the 
brilliant  achievements  of  the  navy.  Not  a  man  in 
her  had  been  injured,  and  only  two  shot  were  found 
in  the  barge  at  her  side.  The  great  risk  involved 
in  running  these  batteries  is  seen  in  the  Carondelefs 
grounding  hard  and  fast  on  one  of  the  treacherous 
shoals  while  rounding  to  as  she  approached  New  Mad- 
rid, immediately  after  her  passage  of  the  batteries, 
where  it  required  the  utmost  exertions  of  her  crew 
to  get  her  afloat.  Some  of  the  forward  guns  were 
run  astern  and  all  the  men  assembled  aft,  and  by 
putting  on  a  full  head  of  steam  she  was  backed  off 
after  an  hour  of  hard  work.  Had  this  happened 
under  the  enemy's  batteries,  she  would  have  been 
destroyed. 

The  passage  of  the  ironclad  blighted  the  enemy's 
hope  of  holding  Island  No.  10,  for  now  there  was  noth- 
ing to  prevent  General  Pope's  army  from  crossing  the 
river  and  taking  a  position  in  the  rear,  thus  cutting  off 
the  retreat  and  supplies.  The  second  night  after  the 
Carondelefs  exploit  the  Pittsburgh,  Lieutenant  Thomp- 
son, also  passed  the  batteries,  upon  which  the  National 
troops  assembled  at  New  Madrid  and  Point  Pleasant 
crossed  the  river  to  the  eastern  side,  the  Carondelet 
having  on  the  6th  and  7th  of  April  silenced  the  enemy's 
batteries  of  eight  64-pounders.  On  the  8th  of  April 


300  ISLAND  NO.   10  AND   MEMPHIS.  1862. 

Island  No.  10  was  surrendered  to  Captain  Foote  and 
General  Pope,  together  with  five  thousand  men. 

On  the  13th  of  April  five  Confederate  steamers  came 
up  the  river  to  reconnoiter,  but  on  the  appearance  of 
the  ironclads  retired  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Pillow. 
From  this  time  until  early  in  May  the  Western  flotilla 
was  not  engaged  in  any  serious  operations,  as  General 
Pope's  army  was  ordered  to  Corinth,  leaving  only  one 
thousand  five  hundred  men  to  hold  the  ground  already 
won.  On  the  9th  of  May,  Captain  Foote,  to  whose  skill- 
ful and  prudent  management  so  much  of  the  success  of 
the  navy  in  the  West  was  due,  was  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand at  his  own  request,  as  the  wound  he  had  received 
at  Fort  Donelson,  together  with  illness,  had  so  im- 
paired his  health  as  to  compel  him  to  seek  rest  in  a 
change  of  service.  His  successor  was  Captain  Charles 
Henry  Davis. 

Early  in  the  war,  at  the  suggestion  of  two  Missis- 
sippi River  steamboat  captains — J.  E.  Montgomery  and 
Townsend — the  Confederates  organized  a  river  defense 
fleet  consisting  of  fourteen  river  boats  having  their 
bows  plated  with  1-inch  iron  and  their  boilers  and  ma- 
chinery protected  with  cotton  bales  and  pine  bulwarks, 
and  on  the  9th  of  May  eight  of  these  vessels  were  sta- 
tioned near  Fort  Pillow  under  the  command  of  Mr. 
Montgomery.  They  were  the  Little  Rebel,  flagship  ; 
the  General  Bragg,  William  H.  H.  Leonard ;  the  Gen- 
eral Price,  H.  E.  Henthorne ;  the  General  Sumter,  W. 
W.  Lamb  ;  the  General  Van  Dorn,  Isaac  D.  Fulker- 
son  ;  the  General  M.  Jeff.  Thompson,  John  H.  Burke  ; 
the  General  Beauregard,  James  Henry  Hurt ;  and  the 
General  Lovell,  James  C.  Delancey.  After  the  capture 
of  Island  No.  10  Captain  Foote  moved  down  the  river, 
and  from  the  14th  of  April  to  the  10th  of  May  he 
divided  and  moored  his  flotilla  at  Plumb  Point,  and  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river  six  miles  above  Fort 
Pillow,  and  every  day  sent  a  mortar  boat  under  the 
protection  of  one  of  the  ironclads  down  the  river  to  a 


1862.  BATTLE   OF  FORT   PILLOW.  301 

point  about  two  miles  above  Fort  Pillow,  where  13-inch 
shells  were  fired  at  the  enemy.  This  fire  proved  to  be 
exceedingly  annoying  to  the  Confederates,  and  they 
determined  to  make  a  dash  up  the  river  and  give  battle 
to  the  flotilla. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  May  10th,  while  the  mist 
was  hanging  over  the  river,  the  enemy's  vessels,  led  by 
the  General  Bragg,  a  brig-rigged  side-wheel  steamer, 
came  swiftly  up  the  river,  intending  first  to  destroy  the 
mortar  boat  and  the  ironclad  defending  it  before  the 
other  National  ironclads  could  come  to  their  assistance. 
The  ironclad  defending  the  mortar  boat  at  this  time 
was  the  Cincinnati,  and  Acting-Master  Gregory  was  in 
charge  of  the  mortar  boat  No.  16.  When  the  Confed- 
erate steamers  were  discovered  coming  up  the  river, 
Mr.  Gregory  reduced  the  charge  of  his  mortar,  and, 
lowering  the  elevation,  deliberately  fired  eleven  shells 
at  them.  Paying  no  attention  to  this,  the  General 
Bragg  came  swiftly  up  the  Arkansas  side,  far  in  ad- 
vance of  her  consorts,  and,  passing  some  distance  above 
the  Cincinnati,  turned  down  the  river  at  full  speed 
and  rammed  the  ironclad  on  her  starboard  quarter, 
which  was  her  most  vulnerable  point.  The  blow 
crushed  in  the  side  and  made  a  hole  in  her  shell-room, 
into  which  the  water  poured  in  great  quantities.  The 
warning  was  given  for  the  remaining  National  gunboats 
to  get  under  way,  but  owing  to  the  mists  and  the  want 
of  a  breeze  the  signal  flags  could  not  be  readily  distin- 
guished. Word  was  then  passed  from  boat  to  boat, 
and  they  stood  down  the  river  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

After  ramming  the  Cincinnati,  the  General  Bragg 
swung  alongside  and  received  a  broadside,  and,  backing 
clear  of  the  ironclad,  stood  downstream  disabled.  In 
the  mean  time  the  other  rams  had  arrived  on  the  scene, 
and  the  General  Price  and  the  General  Sumler  also 
succeeded  in  ramming  the  Cincinnati.  About  this 
time  Commander  Stembel  was  dangerously  wounded 
in  the  neck  by  a  pistol  shot,  and  Master  Reynolds  fell, 


302  ISLAND  NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS.  1862. 

mortally  wounded.  With  the  assistance  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh and  a  tug,  the  Cincinnati  was  taken  to  the  Ten- 
nessee shore,  where  she  sank  in  eleven  feet  of  water. 
The  Carondelet  disabled  the  General  Price  with  a  shot. 
The  General  Van  Dorn,  the  fourth  Confederate  steamer, 
passed  the  disabled  Cincinnati  and  rammed  the  Mound 
City  on  her  starboard  bow  and  compelled  the  ironclad 
to  make  for  the  Arkansas  shore  in  a  sinking  condition. 
The  General  M.  Jeff.  Thompson,  the  General  Beaure- 
gard  and  the  General  Lowell  fired  into  the  Carondelet, 
to  which  Commander  Walke  replied  with  his  stern 
guns.  One  of  his  shot  struck  the  General  Sumter  just 
forward  of  her  wheelhouse,  and,  cutting  the  steam  pipe, 
filled  the  vessel  with  scalding  steam.  The  Confeder- 
ates now  retreated  down  the  river  with  all  their  ves- 
sels, which  were  not  so  seriously  damaged  but  that 
they  were  repaired  and  ready  for  another  battle  a  few 
weeks  later.  The  Cincinnati  and  the  Mound  City  also 
were  repaired.  The  loss  in  the  Cincinnati  was  three 
wounded,  in  the  Mound  City  one  wounded.  The  Con- 
federates had  two  killed  and  one  w.ounded. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1862,  Charles  Ellet,  a  civil 
engineer,  was  directed  by  the  Government  to  purchase 
a  number  of  river  steamers  and  fit  them  up  as  rams. 
Seven  steamers  were  secured  for  this  purpose,  four 
of  them  side-wheelers  and  three  stern-wheelers,  their 
hulls  strengthened  by  solid  timber  bulwarks  twelve 
to  sixteen  inches  thick,  running  fore  and  aft  (the 
central  one  being  on  the  keelson)  and  firmly  braced 
together.  Iron  rods  ran  through  the  hull  from  side  to 
side,  giving  additional  strength,  while  oak  bulwarks 
two  feet  thick  protected  the  boilers.  These  vessels, 
hastily  fitted  out  in  six  weeks,  joined  the  squadron  un- 
der Captain  Davis  above  Fort  Pillow  on  the  25th  of 
May.  On  the  4th  of  June  Fort  Pillow  was  abandoned 
by  the  enemy,  and  on  the  following  day  the  squadron 
moved  down  the  river,  two  miles  above  Memphis. 

On  the  6th  of  June  the  following  ironclads,  under 


1862.  BATTLE  OF  MEMPHIS.  303 

the  command  of  Captain  Davis,  moved  down  the  river 
to  engage  the  enemy:  Benton  (flagship),  Lieutenant 
S.  Ledyard  Phelps ;  Carondelet,  Commander  Walke ; 
Louisville,  Commander  Dove ;  St.  Louis,  Lieutenant 
Wilson  McGunnegle  ;  and  Cairo,  Lieutenant  Nathaniel 
C.  Bryant ;  with  two  of  Ellet's  steam  rams,  the  Queen 
of  the  West,  Colonel  Ellet,  and  the  Monarch,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Alfred  W.  Ellet  (a  younger  brother). 
As  they  came  within  sight  of  Memphis  the  Confederate 
vessels,  mounting  two  to  four  guns  each,  under  the 
command  of  Montgomery,  were  found  drawn  up  in  a 
double  line  of  battle  opposite  the  city.  The  National 
ironclads  formed  in  line  of  battle,  with  the  two  rams  a 
short  distance  astern.  The  bluffs  around  the  city  were 
crowded  with  people  eager  to  witness  a  naval  engage- 
ment, and  the  National  vessels  refrained  from  firing 
lest  some  of  their  shots  might  fall  among  the  citizens. 

While  they  were  some  distance  from  the  enemy 
the  Queen  of  the  West  and  the  Monarch  dashed  past 
the  ironclads  at  full  speed  and  made  straight  for  the 
Confederate  vessels,  Colonel  Ellet  selecting  the  General 
Lovell,  which  was  about  the  middle  of  the  enemy's  line 
of  battle.  The  Queen  of  the  West  and  the  General 
Lovell  approached  each  other  in  gallant  style,  and 
every  one  expected  there  would  be  a  head-on  collision 
in  which  both  vessels  would  probably  be  sunk;  but 
just  before  the  steamers  came  in  contact  the  General 
Lovell  suddenly  turned  her  head  inshore,  exposing  her 
broadside  at  right  angles  to  the  Queen  of  the  West. 
On  went  the  National  ram  at  a  tremendous  speed  and 
crashed  into  the  Confederate  flagship,  cutting  her  near- 
ly in  two,  causing  her  to  disappear  under  the  water  in 
a  few  seconds.  At  the  moment  of  the  collision  Colonel 
Ellet,  who  was  standing  in  an  exposed  position  on  the 
hurricane  deck,  was  wounded  above  the  knee  by  a  pis- 
tol shot.  He  died  from  the  effect  of  this  wound  June 
21,  1862.  Before  the  Queen  of  the  West  could  disen- 
gage herself  from  the  wreck  she  was  rammed  by  the 


304  ISLAND   NO.   10  AND  MEMPHIS.  1862. 

General  Beauregard  on  one  side  and  by  the  General 
Sumter  on  the  other  and  one  of  her  paddle  wheels  was 
carried  away,  but  by  using  the  remaining  wheel  she 
managed  to  reach  the  Arkansas  shore,  where  she  was 
run  aground. 

The  Monarch,  closely  following  the  Queen  of  the 
West,  had  selected  one  of  the  enemy's  steamers,  when 
the  General  Beauregard  and  the  General  Price  made 
a  dash  at  her  from  opposite  sides  ;  but  the  command- 
ers of  the  Confederate  vessels  had  not  calculated  on 
the  great  speed  of  the  new  National  vessel,  and  sup- 
posed that  they  were  still  dealing  with  the  slow-going 
ironclads.  The  result  was  that  they  missed  her  alto- 
gether and  crashed  into  each  other,  the  General  Beau- 
regard  tearing  off  the  General  Prices  port  wheel  and 
seriously  injuring  her  hull.  The  latter  ran  ashore  on 
the  Arkansas  side  near  the  Queen  of  the  West.  The 
Monarch  then  turned  on  the  General  Beauregard, 
which  was  fleeing  down  the  river,  but  the  Benton 
disabled  the  Confederate  vessel  with  a  shot  in  her 
boiler,  causing  her  to  sink  soon  afterward.  The  Little 
Rebel  received  a  shot  in  her  steam  chest  from  one  of 
the  ironclads  and  drifted  on  the  Arkansas  shore,  where 
her  men  escaped.  The  remaining  Confederate  vessels 
fled  down  the  river  and  were  pursued  about  ten  miles. 
The  M,  Jeff.  Thompson,  being  on  fire,  soon  blew  up, 
and  the  General  Bragg  and  General  Sumter  were  over- 
taken and  captured.  The  General  Van  Dorn  alone 
escaped,  although  pursued  by  the  Monarch  and  the 
Switzerland,  the  latter  having  joined  in  the  battle  at 
its  close.  The  loss  to  the  National  fleet  in  this  brilliant 
affair  was  only  four  wounded ;  that  of  the  Confederates 
is  not  definitely  known.  The  Little  Rebel,  the  General 
Bragg,  the  General  Sumter  and  the  General  Price 
were  repaired  and  added  to  the  National  flotilla. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  Commander  Kilty,  in  the 
Mound  City,  with  the  St.  Louis,  Lieutenant  McGun- 
negle,  the  Lexington,  Lieutenant  James  W.  Shirk  and 


1862.  ATTACK  ON  ST.  CHARLES.  305 

the  Conestoga,  Lieutenant  Blodgett,  with  an  Indiana 
regiment  under  Colonel  Fitch,  attacked  two  Confeder- 
ate earthworks  at  St.  Charles,  on  White  River.  Early 
in  the  action  a  shell  entered  the  casemate  of  the 
Mound  City,  killing  three  men  in  its  flight,  and  ex- 
ploded her  steam  drum.  A  fearful  scene  followed,  and 
the  men,  endeavoring  to  escape  from  the  scalding  steam, 
jumped  into  the  river,  where  forty-three  were  drowned 
or  killed  by  the  enemy's  shot.  Eighty-two  men  died 
from  scalding  or  wounds,  and  only  twenty-five  out  of 
the  complement  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  were 
uninjured.  Commander  Kilty  himself  was  so  badly 
scalded  that  it  became  necessary  to  amputate  his  left 
arm.  The  disabled  ironclad  was  towed  out  of  action 
by  the  Conestoga.  In  spite  of  this  terrible  disaster  the 
remaining  gunboats  maintained  the  attack  until  Colonel 
Fitch,  who  had  landed  with  his  regiment  to  attack  the 
earthworks  in  the  rear,  signaled  for  them  to  cease  firing, 
and  the  troops  carried  the  battery  by  storm.  The  gun- 
boats pushed  sixty-three  miles  farther  up  the  river  and 
then  returned.  For  his  brilliant  services  Captain  Davis 
received  the  rank  of  rear-admiral  February  7,  1863. 


05 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BLOCKADING    THE    MISSISSIPPI. 

WHILE  the  National  gunboats  were  opening  the 
Mississippi  River  from  the  north,  the  Government  was 
projecting  an  expedition  against  New  Orleans,  with  a 
view  of  capturing  that  most  important  seaport  of  the 
South  by  an  attack  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Soon 
after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  Captain  "William  Mer- 
vine,  who  had  served  on  the  coast  of  California  dur- 
ing the  Mexican  War,  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
blockading  squadron  in  the  Gulf,  and  he  arrived  off 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  8th  of  June,  1861. 
For  a  short  time  before  his  arrival  the  Brooklyn,  Com- 
mander Charles  H.  Poor,  the  Niagara  and  the  Pow- 
Jiatan,  Lieutenant  David  Dixon  Porter,  had  been 
blockading  Southwest  Pass  and  Pass  a  1'Outre,  and  on 
the  13th  of  June  the  Massachusetts  arrived.  Captain 
Mervine  was  relieved  of  his  command  in  the  latter  part 
of  September  by  Captain  William  W.  McKean.  The 
escape  of  the  Confederate  cruiser  Sumter  showed  the 
necessity  of  holding  the  Head  of  the  Passes,  where  the 
river  broadens  out  into  a  deep  bay  two  miles  wide, 
giving  ample  room  for  the  manoeuvres  of  a  fleet ;  and 
early  in  October  the  steam  sloop  Richmond,  Captain 
John  Pope  ;  the  sailing  sloop  Vincennes,  Commander 
Robert  Handy  ;  the  sailing  sloop  Preble,  Command- 
er Henry  French  ;  and  the  side-wheel  steamer  Water 
Witch,  Lieutenant  Francis  Winslow,  moved  up  to  the 
Head  of  the  Passes,  took  possession  of  the  telegraph 
station  and  began  the  erection  of  a  fort. 

On  the  night  of  October  llth,  Captain  George  Nich- 

306 


1861.  AT   THE  HEAD  OF  THE  PASSES.  307 

olas  Hollins,  of  the  Confederate  navy,  with  the  ironclad 
Manassas l  and  six  wooden  steamers,  left  New  Orleans, 
and,  stealing  down  the  river,  approached  the  National 
vessels  unobserved.  In  the  early  dawn  of  October  12th 
the  Manassas  rammed  the  Richmond  as  she  lay  at 
anchor.  Fortunately,  a  schooner  from  which  the  Rich- 
mond was  coaling  was  lying  alongside  and  prevented 
serious  results  ;  but  as  it  was,  a  small  hole  was  made 
in  the  Richmond's  side  two  feet  below  the  water  line, 
abreast  of  the  port  fore  chains.  The  shock  of  the  col- 
lision started  the  boilers  in  the  Manassas,  and  before 
she  could  ram  again  Captain  Pope  had  slipped  his 
cable  and  ranged  ahead.  The  ram  then  crept  off  in  the 
night,  and  although  many  missiles  were  aimed  at  her 
she  escaped  without  serious  damage.  About  this  time 
three  lights  were  discovered  coming  swiftly  down  the 
river,  and  as  they  drew  nearer  they  were  seen  to  be  fire 
rafts  guided  by  two  steamers,  the  Tuscarora  and  the 
Watson.  The  flames,  sweeping  across  the  river  from 
bank  to  bank  like  a  wall  of  fire,  presented  an  appalling 
appearance  ;  and,  fearing  that  his  vessels  would  be  de- 
stroyed by  this  new  species  of  warfare,  Captain  Pope 
hoisted  a  red  light  as  a  danger  signal  and  retreated 
down  Southwest  Pass.  Lieutenant  Winslow,  in  the 
Water  Witch,  remained  at  the  Head  of  the  Passes  un- 
til daylight,  when  he  saw  the  smoke  of  four  steamers 
and  the  masts  of  a  propeller  that  had  every  appearance 
of  a  blockade  runner.  He  hastened  down  the  pass, 
overtook  Captain  Pope  at  the  bar,  and  begged  him  to 
return,  but  Pope  deemed  it  unadvisable  to  do  so. 

In  attempting  to  cross  the  bar  the  Richmond  and 
the  Vincennes  grounded,  and  while  they  were  in  this 
position  the  Confederate  vessels,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  approached,  and  for  two  hours  kept  up  a 
desultory  cannonading.  As  the  Richmond  had  her 
broadsides  in  a  position  to  rake  any  craft  going  up  or 

1  For  a  description  of  the  Manassas,  see  page  315. 


308  BLOCKADING   THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1861. 

down  the  river,  Captain  Hollins  did  not  care  to  risk 
his  vessels  before  her  heavy  shell  guns.  The  Water 
Witch  maintained  a  spirited  fire  from  her  few  guns  and 
kept  the  enemy  at  a  respectful  distance.  The  Rich- 
mond was  soon  floated  off,  but,  drifting  down  the  cur- 
rent, she  grounded  again  below  the  Vincennes,  Cap- 
tain Pope  then  made  signal  for  the  vessels  below  the 
bar  to  get  under  way,  but  Commander  Handy,  of  the 
Vincennes,  mistook  the  signal  for  an  order  to  abandon 
his  ship,  and  applying  a  slow  match  to  the  magazine  at 
a  time  when  the  enemy  was  actually  withdrawing,  he 
sent  a  part  of  his  crew  aboard  the  Water  Witch,  while 
he,  at  9.30  A.  M.,  went  aboard  the  Richmond  with  the 
rest  of  his  men.  After  waiting  a  reasonable  time  for 
the  magazine  to  explode,  Captain  Pope  ordered  Handy 
back  to  the  Vi?wennes,  and  the  next  day,  by  the  aid 
of  the  South  Carolina,  which  had  come  up  from  Bar- 
rataria,  she  was  floated  off.  After  this  humiliating  oc- 
currence a  vessel  was  stationed  off  each  of  the  passes, 
as  it  was  deemed  too  hazardous  to  hold  the  Head  of  the 
Passes.  On  the  16th  of  September  troops  were  landed 
from  the  Massachusetts  and  took  possession  of  Ship 
Island,  with  a  view  of  making  that  a  naval  headquar- 
ters. On  the  19th  of  October  the  Florida,  Captain 
Hollins,  engaged  the  Massachusetts  in  a  distant  can- 
nonading off  Ship  Island,  but  with  no  decisive  results. 
In  the  mean  time  the  Government  at  Washington 
had  learned,  through  fishermen  in  the  Gulf  and  other 
sources,  that  the  defenses  of  New  Orleans  on  the  south 
had  been  neglected  by  the  Confederates,  as  they 
deemed  an  attack  from  that  quarter  impracticable.  In 
November,  1861,  President  Lincoln  considered  a  plan 
for  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  submitted  by  Gustavus 
Vasa  Fox,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  It  was 
proposed  to  have  wooden  ships  run  past  Fort  Jackson 
and  Fort  St.  Philip  and  take  possession  of  the  city  ;  the 
forts,  being  cut  off  from  their  base  of  supplies,  would 
thus  be  compelled  to  surrender.  Although  Washing- 


1863.      PLANNING   THE  NEW  ORLEANS  EXPEDITION.        309 

ton,  nearly  a  hundred  years  before,  had  urged  'upon 
Comte  de  Grasse  the  feasibility  of  running  wooden 
ships  past  the  land  batteries  of  Lord  Cornvvallis  on 
York  River,  saying,  "  I  should  have  the  greatest  confi- 
dence in  the  success  of  that  important  service,"  yet  the 
plan  was  never  carried  out,  and  had  always  been  re- 
garded by  naval  authorities  as  too  hazardous  even  to 
be  seriously  considered.  It  was  proposed  to  send  about 
ten  thousand  soldiers  to  hold  the  city  after  the  fleet 
had  passed  the  forts,  and  it  was  decided  to  have  a  mor- 
tar flotilla  to  bombard  the  forts  before  the  fleet  made 
its  attempt  to  run  past.  Six  thousand  Massachusetts 
troops,  together  with  some  Western  regiments,  under 
the  command  of  General  Benjamin  P.  Butler,  were  de- 
tailed for  the  expedition. 

The  proposition  was  one  of  the  boldest  and  seem- 
ingly most  foolhardy  plans  that  had  ever  been  seri- 
ously contemplated.  Its  success  depended  entirely 
upon  the  selection  of  a  sagacious,  fearless  and  well- 
balanced  commander,  and  it  was  this  part  of  the  enter- 
prise that  most  seriously  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
Government.  Of  all  the  officers  at  the  disposal  of  the 
United  States,  Captain  David  Glasgow  Farragut  seemed 
to  be  the  one  best  fitted  for  this  command,  and  it  was 
only  his  Southern  birth  and  affiliations  that  caused  the 
Government  to  hesitate  ;  but  on  the  9th  of  January  he 
was  formally  appointed  commander  of  the  expedition, 
and  also  commander  of  the  Western  Gulf  Blockading 
Squadron,  the  new  sloop  of  war  Hartford  being  as- 
signed as  his  flagship. 

Farragut's  name  was  first  noticed  in  these  pages  as 
a  midshipman  in  the  Essex  at  the  opening  of  the  war 
for  independence  on  the  high  seas.  At  the  close  of 
that  war  he  was  ordered  to  the  Mediterranean  in  the  new 
ship  of  the  line  Washington.  In  1821  he  received  his 
commission  as  lieutenant  and  took  part  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  piracy  in  the  West  Indies.  When  off  Tortugas, 
about  1823,  he  took  passage  in  a  vessel  laden  with  brick 


310  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1861-1862. 

for  Fort  Jackson.  In  1832  he  was  in  the  Norfolk  Navy 
Yard.  During  the  nullification  troubles,  in  1833.  he 
was  in  the  man-of-war  that  was  sent  to  South  Carolina 
by  President  Jackson  with  the  message,  "The  Union 
must  and  shall  be  preserved."  In  1837  he  was  execu- 
tive officer  in  the  sloop-of-war  Natchez,  and  in  1840  he 
was  again  at  Norfolk,  about  which  time  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  Loyall,  of  that  city.  In  the  following 
year  he  sailed  for  the  coast  of  Brazil  in  the  ship-of-the- 
line  Delaware,  when  he  was  made  commander.  In 
1844  he  commanded  the  receiving  ship  Pennsylvania, 
at  Norfolk,  and  in  1847  the  sloop-of-war  Saratoga,  of 
the  home  squadron.  From  1848  to  1854  he  was  on 
shore  duty,  after  which  he  was  sent  out  to  establish 
the  navy  yard  in  California,  where  he  remained  until 
1858,  by  which  time  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  captain  and  was  ordered  to  the  sloop-of-war  Brook- 
lyn. When  the  civil  war  broke  out  he  was  in  Norfolk 
and  was  strongly  urged  to  serve  the  Southern  cause. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  landsman  to  understand  how  at- 
tached a  thoroughbred  seaman  becomes  to  his  colors. 
It  was  under  the  United  States  flag  that  the  youthful 
Farragut  received  his  commission  as  a  midshipman,  and 
in  that  proud  moment  of  gratified  ambition  he  took  his 
boyish  oath  to  die  rather  than  strike  that  flag.  On 
more  than  one  occasion  he  had  seen  the  haughtiest 
colors  on  the  ocean  bow  with  respect  before  Old  Glory. 
At  Valparaiso  he  stood  on  the  bloody  decks  of  the  Es- 
sex with  that  gallant  ship's  company  and  saw  men  give 
life  and  limb  in  order  that  the  flag  might  not  be  hauled 
down.  He  had  seen  sailors  writhing  in  the  agonies  of 
death  expend  their  last  vitality  in  some  feeble  defense 
of  that  flag.  He  had  traveled  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and 
had  seen  the  star-spangled  banner  towering  proudly 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  feared  by  some,  blessed 
by  others  for  its  manly  upholding  of  the  rights  of  hu- 
manity, respected  by  all.  He  had  seen  kings  and 
princes  do  it  homage.  Many  a  time  when  in  distant 


1361-1862.  DAVID  GLASGOW   FARRAGUT.  3H 

lands,  surrounded  by  strange  scenes  and  by  strange 
people,  he  had  stood  under  the  protecting  folds  of  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  and  felt  that  he  had  a  true  friend  by 
him.  Often,  on  the  lonely  ocean,  he  had  watched  the 
beautiful  flag  caressed  by  gentle  zephyrs,  brightly  re- 
turning the  smiles  of  the  sun,  or,  drawing  itself  out  to 
its  full  length,  grandly  maintain  its  dignity  in  the  face 
of  storm. 

And  this  was  the  flag  against  which  Farragut  was 
asked  to  raise  his  hand.  The  secessionists  little  under- 
stood how  those  stripes  could  entwine  themselves  about 
the  heart  of  a  sailor  who  had  once  fought  for  that  flag, 
who  had  endured  sickness,  hardship,  insult  and  igno- 
miny in  order  that  it  might  remain  unsullied.  They 
understood  still  less  the  emotion  of  men  who  have  once 
gazed  on  those  stars  proudly  floating  over  the  enemy's 
colors  after  a  bloody  struggle.  Stung  with  the  insult 
contained  in  the  suggestion,  and  remembering  the  glori- 
ous triumphs  achieved  under  the  flag,  Farragut  re- 
plied, "I  would  see  every  man  of  you  damned  before 
I  would  raise  my  hand  against  that  flag  !  "  Being  in- 
formed that  he  could  no  longer  remain  in  the  South,  he 
replied,  "  I  will  seek  some  other  place  where  I  can  live, 
and  on  two  hours'  notice."  And  he  was  as  good  as  his 
word.  On  that  same  evening,  April  18th,  he  left  Nor- 
folk and  most  of  his  worldly  possessions,  and  with  his 
wife  and  only  son  went  to  Baltimore,  and  thence  to 
Hastings  on  the  Hudson.  His  first  service  was  on  the 
board  appointed  under  the  act  of  Congress,  August  3, 
1861,  to  retire  superannuated  officers  from  active  serv- 
ice, from  which  duty  he  was  called  to  assume  command 
of  the  New  Orleans  expedition. 

.While  the  preparations  for  the  expedition  were 
under  way  in  the  North,  the  blockade  of  the  mouths 
of  the  Mississippi  had  been  maintained  as  well  as  the 
few  vessels  stationed  there  could  do  it.  The  dreary 
monotony  of  blockade  on  this  coast  was  enhanced  by 
fogs  so  dense  that  it  was  impossible  at  times  to  see  one 


312  BLOCKADING  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

hundred  yards  ahead,  which  afforded  every  oppor- 
tunity for  blockade  runners  to  get  to  sea.  At  times 
the  rigging  and  spars  of  the  vessels  were  soaked  with 
moisture,  and  the  continual  dripping  kept  the  ships 
damp  and  unhealthf  ul.  The  only  relief  was  the  daily 
drill  of  the  men  at  the  great  guns  and  other  exercises. 
As  they  were  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the 
North,  and  knew  little  or  nothing  about  the  progress 
of  the  war  except  such  exaggerated  and  discouraging 
accounts  as  were  allowed  to  pass  through  the  enemy's 
lines  or  were  picked  up  from  the  fishermen,  the  thank- 
less service  did  not  tend  to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  offi- 
cers or  the  men.  Occasionally  the  lookout  at  the  top- 
mast crosstrees  would  sing  out  with  a  dismal  drawl, 
4 'Smoke,  ho-o-o  !  "  and  it  was  one  of  the  treats  of  the 
service  for  the  officer  of  the  deck  to  call  back  through 
his  trumpet,  ' '  Where  away  ? "  "Up  the  river,  sir. "  But 
the  smoke  seldom  came  out  of  the  river.  The  Brooklyn, 
Commander  Thomas  Tingey  Craven,  was  engaged  in 
blockading  Pass  a  1'Outre  from  February  2  to  March 
7, 1862.  Some  excitement  was  afforded  to  her  people 
on  the  24th  of  February  by  the  smoke  of  a  steamer 
coming  down  the  river,  for  in  this  instance  the  vessel 
actually  came  out  and  attempted  to  run  the  blockade, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  sloop-of-war  was  in  readiness 
for  the  chase.  Owing  to  the  fog,  it  was  impossible  to 
see  the  steamer  from  the  deck,  and  the  only  way  of 
following  her  was  by  an  officer  going  aloft  and  keeping 
track  of  the  smoke,  which  could  be  seen  above  the  fog. 
After  a  run  of  many  miles  the  stranger  was  overtaken, 
and  proved  to  be  the  Magnolia,  having  on  board  twelve 
hundred  bales  of  cotton. 

Farragut  arrived  at  Ship  Island,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  in  the  Hartford,  on  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  from  that  time  there  was  plenty  of  excite- 
ment. The  preparations  for  entering  the  river  were 
actively  begun  ;  the  men  were  kept  busy  firing  at  tar- 
gets, getting  in  coal  and  provisions  and  protecting  the 


1862.  FARRAGUT'S  ARRIVAL.  3^3 

machinery  with  chains,  sand  bags  etc.  "Farragtit  was 
about  the  fleet  from  early  dawn  until  dark,  and  if  any 
officer  had  not  spontaneous  enthusiasm,  he  certainly  in- 
fused it  into  him.  I  have  been  on  the  morning  watch 
from  four  to  eight  o'clock,  when  he  would  row  along- 
side the  ship  at  six  o'clock,  either  hailing  to  ask 
how  we  were  getting  along,  or  perhaps  climbing  over 
the  side  to  see  for  himself." '  The  first  difficulty  to  be 
overcome  was  that  of  getting  the  heavy  ships  over  the 
bar. 

When  Farragut  received  his  orders  to  command 
this  expedition  it  was  thought  that  there  were  nineteen 
feet  of  water  on  the  bar,4  so  that  such  ships  as  the 
Brooklyn  and  the  Hartford  could  readily  cross,  while 
heavier  frigates  like  the  Wabash  and  the  Colorado^ 
which  drew  twenty-two  feet  of  water,  could  be  taken 
over  after  being  relieved  of  their  guns,  coal  and  other 
heavy  stores  :  but  when  the  squadron  assembled  before 
the  passes  it  was  found  that  the  ever-changing  sands 
had  reduced  the  depth  to  fifteen  feet.  All  hope  of 
getting  the  Wabash  and  the  Colorado  over  was  im- 
mediately abandoned,  while  grave  doubts  were  enter- 
tained as  to  the  possibility  of  getting  even  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Pensacola  across.  The  Colorado  was 
deemed  especially  valuable  in  the  operation  against  the 
forts,  as  the  commanding  height  of  her  masts  enabled 
her  topmen  to  fire  over  the  parapets  and  sweep  the  in- 
terior of  the  forts  with  grape  and  canister.  The  Pen- 
sacola was  finally  got  over  the  bar  on  the  7th  of  April, 
after  a  delay  of  two  weeks.  In  one  of  the  attempts 
to  tow  her  over  the  hawser  parted,  killing  two  men 
and  wounding  five.  The  pilots  were  found  to  be 
either  nervous  or  treacherous,  and  the  vessels  were  fre- 
quently run  aground.  The  dense  fogs  off  these  low 
sandy  coasts  also  rendered  the  navigation  unusually 

1  Commander  John  Russell  Bartlett,  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War. 
*  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  Farragut,  February  10th. 


314:  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

difficult.  After  many  futile  attempts  to  get  the  Brook- 
lyn over  the  bar  at  Pass  a  1'Outre,  she  was  taken  to 
Southwest  Pass,  where  also  she  grounded.  Finally 
several  steamers  took  her  in  tow  and  hauled  her 
through  the  mud  by  sheer  force.  The  Mississippi 
was  stripped  of  everything  that  could  possibly  be 
taken  out  of  her,  and  after  eight  days  of  tugging  and 
hauling  she  was  brought  over.  These  unexpected  ob- 
stacles delayed  the  expedition  at  the  passes  many  days, 
giving  the  Confederates  ample  time  to  ascertain  the 
force  of  the  fleet  and  to  make  their  defenses  accord- 
ingly. 

The  defenses  of  New  Orleans  were  of  the  most  for- 
midable kind.  The  river  about  ninety  miles  below 
New  Orleans  was  guarded  by  two  forts  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Johnson  K.  Duncan.  On  the  right 
bank  of  a  bend  in  the  stream  was  Fort  Jackson,  having 
bomb-proof  chambers  and  all  the  appliances  for  mod- 
ern warfare.  It  stood  about  one  hundred  yards  from 
the  levee,  the  casemate  rising  just  above  its  level, 
while  a  water-battery  extended  below  the  fort  along 
the  river's  edge.  The  fort  was  divided  into  three  sec- 
tions ;  an  outer  wall  surrounded  by  the  overflow  water, 
formed  a  substantial  moat,  and  between  this  and  the 
fort  proper  was  a  wide  ditch  of  mud  and  water,  form- 
ing the  second  moat,  while  the  fort  itself,  a  massive 
structure  of  stone  and  brick  in  the  shape  of  a  star, 
stood  in  the  center.  Between  this  and  the  citadel  of 
solid  masonry  was  a  third  ditch.  The  armament  of 
this  formidable  work  consisted  of  three  10-inch  colum- 
biads  and  five  8-inch  guns,  one  7-inch  rifled  gun,  six 
42-pounders,  seventeen  32-pounders  and  thirty-five  24- 
pounders — in  all,  sixty-seven  guns.  The  commander  of 
this  fort  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Edward  Higgins,  for- 
merly of  the  United  States  navy.  On  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  river,  a  little  above,  was  Fort  St.  Philip,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Squires.  It  mounted  six  8-inch 
guns,  one  rifled  7-inch  gun,  six  42-pounders,  nine  32- 


1862.  DEFENSES  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  315 

pounders  and  twenty-one  24-pounders,  one  13-inch  mor- 
tar and  five  10-inch  mortars — in  all,  forty- nine  pieces. 

As  an  auxiliary  battery,  a  formidable  fleet  of  gun- 
boats and  ironclads,  under  the  command  of  Commo- 
dore John  K.  Mitchell,  was  held  in  readiness  to  at- 
tack any  craft  that  might  attempt  to  pass  up  the  river. 
The  most  dangerous  of  these  was  the  Louisiana,  Cap- 
tain Charles  F.  Mclntosh,  which  was  rapidly  approach- 
ing completion.  She  was  built  under  the  direction  of 
E.  C.  Murray  from  timber  cut  in  the  forest  bordering 
on  Lake  Pontchartrain.  Her  engines  were  taken  from 
the  steamer  Ingomar.  Although  the  construction  of 
this  vessel  was  begun  on  the  15th  of  October,  1861, 
work  on  her  was  delayed  by  strikes  and  the  imperfect 
appliances  for  handling  iron.  Upon  her  lower  hull, 
which  was  nearly  submerged,  was  erected  a  casemate 
plated  with  a  double  row  of  T-railroad  iron  sloping  at 
an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees.  In  this  shot-proof  gun- 
room were  two  paddle  wheels,  besides  which  she  had 
two  propellers.  The  deck  above  the  casemate  was  sur- 
rounded by  sheet-iron  bulwarks  as  a  protection  against 
sharpshooters.  Her  armament  consisted  of  seven  rifled 
32-pounders,  three  9-inch  and  four  8-inch  smooth-bore 
guns  and  two  rifled  7-inch  guns — in  all,  sixteen  guns. 
A  serious  defect  in  her  construction  was  that  the  gun 
ports  were  too  small,  so  that  the  arc  of  fire  of  the  guns 
was  not  more  than  five  degrees. 

A  second  ironclad  was  the  ram  Manassas,  Lieuten- 
ant A.  F.  Warley.  This  was  formerly  the  twin-screw 
tugboat  Enoch  Train,  built  in  Boston  in  1855  by  J. 
0.  Curtis.  She  was  one  hundred  and  twenty- eight 
feet  over  all,  and  had  twenty-six  feet  beam  and  eleven 
feet  draught.  Her  frame  was  of  white  oak.  Under 
the  personal  direction  of  John  H.  Stephenson,  the  Enoch 
Train  was  covered  with  five-inch  timbers  and  with 
about  an  inch  of  flat  railroad  iron  ;  the  beams,  meeting 
at  the  bow,  formed  a  solid  mass  twenty  feet  thick. 
The  only  entrance  to  this  craft  was  by  a  trap  door,  the 


316  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

port  cover  of  the  single  gun  in  the  bow  springing  back 
when  the  gun  was  withdrawn.  She  had  two  "tele- 
scoping "  smokestacks,  which  could  be  drawn  into  the 
vessel  when  necessary,  and  steam  pipes  were  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  throw  boiling  water  over  the  deck  if  an 
enemy  should  attempt  to  board.  She  was  armed  with 
one  32-pounder,  and  had  a  crew  of  thirty-five  men,  all 
told.  This  vessel  was  built  by  private  subscription  at 
New  Orleans,  in  order  to  get  the  twenty  per  cent  of  the 
value  of  any  Federal  vessel  that  it  might  destroy  ;  but 
on  the  12th  of  October,  1861,  it  was  purchased  by  the 
Confederate  Government. 

Besides  these  two  ironclads  there  were  wooden 
steamers  that  had  been  converted  into  gunboats.  One 
of  the  most  efficient  of  these  was  the  steamer  McRae, 
Lieutenant  Thomas  B.  Huger,  formerly  the  steamer 
Marquis  de  la  Habana,  mounting  six  32-pounders  and 
one  9-inch  shell  gun.  The  two  steamers  Governor 
Moore  and  General  Quitman  had  been  fitted  out  by 
the  State  of  Louisiana.  The  Governor  Moore  (named 
after  the  war  Governor  of  Alabama),  Commander  Bev- 
erley  Kennon,  formerly  the  wooden  paddle-wheeled 
steamer  Charles  Morgan,  was  armed  with  two  rifled  32- 
pounders  and  was  manned  with  ninety-three  men,  all 
told,  and  pieces  of  railroad  iron  were  fastened  to  her 
bows  to  form  a  sort  of  ram.  The  General  Quitman, 
Captain  Grant,  a  little  smaller  than  the  Governor 
Moore,  was  armed  with  two  smooth-bore  32-pounders. 
The  steamer  Jackson,  Lieutenant  Francis  B.  Renshaw, 
mounted  two  32-pounders.  Launch  No.  6,  Acting-Mas- 
ter Fairbanks,  and  launch  No.  3,  armed  with  one  how- 
itzer, Acting-Master  Telford,  were  among  the  vessels. 
All  these  were  protected  about  their  boilers  and  ma- 
chinery with  double  barricades  of  pine  boards,  the 
space  between  them  being  filled  in  with  compressed 
cotton.  None  of  them  had  rams  under  water.  Each 
was  manned  with  about  thirty-five  men,  and  they 
were  fitted  out  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant- 


1862.  CONFEDERATE  NAVAL  FORCE.  317 

Colonel  William  S.  Lovell,  formerly  of  the  United  States 
navy. 

Besides  this,  the  Confederates  had  under  way  the 
powerful  floating  battery  New  Orleans,  mounting 
twenty  guns  ;  the  Memphis,  eighteen  guns  ;  and  the 
Mississippi,  sixteen  guns.  The  last-mentioned  vessel 
was  regarded  "  as  the  greatest  vessel  in  the  world,"  so 
far  as  her  fighting  capacity  was  concerned.  She  was 
two  hundred  and  seventy  feet  over  all,  had  fifty -eight 
feet  beam,  was  to  make  eleven  knots  an  hour  and  cost 
two  million  dollars.  The  enemy  worked  day  and  night 
and  Sundays,  and  hoped  to  have  her  ready  by  the  first 
of  May.  Distinct  from  the  Confederate  naval  force 
was  what  was  termed  a  "river  defense  fleet,"  consist- 
ing of  boats  mounting  one  or  two  guns  each.  They 
were  the  Warrior,  John  A.  Stephenson  ;  the  Stonewall 
Jackson,  Mr.  Phillips ;  the  Resolute,  Mr.  Hooper ;  the 
Defiance,  Mr.  McCoy  ;  and  the  R.  J.  Breckenridge. 
There  were  also  seven  unarmed  steamers  :  the  Phoenix, 
the  W.  Burton,  Mr.  Hammond ;  the  Landis,  Mr. 
Davis ;  the  Mosher,  Mr.  Sherman ;  the  Belle  Alge- 
rienne,  the  Star,  Mr.  La  Place ;  and  the  Music,  Mr. 
McClellan. 

As  a  further  defense,  the  Confederates,  early  in  the 
winter,  had  thrown  a  raft  across  the  river  under  the 
guns  of  the  forts.  This  raft  consisted  of  cypress  logs 
several  feet  in  diameter  and  about  forty  feet  long, 
placed  three  feet  apart,  so  that  driftwood  would  pass 
between  them.  The  logs  were  held  together  with  iron 
cables  two  and  a  half  inches  thick,  while  thirty  heavy 
anchors  held  them  across  the  stream.  The  freshet  in 
the  spring  of  1862  caused  such  an  unusually  rapid  cur- 
rent that  on  the  10th  of  March  about  a  third  of  the  raft 
was  carried  away.  Eight  schooners  joined  together 
with  chains,  and  with  their  masts  dragging  astern  so 
as  to  entangle  the  screws  of  passing  steamers,  were  an- 
chored in  this  gap.  The  Confederates  also  collected  a 
great  number  of  long  flatboats  filled  with  pine  knots, 


318  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

ready  to  be  fired  and  sent  down  the  swift  current  into 
the  midst  of  the  hostile  fleet. 

On  the  16th  of  April,  1862,  Farragnt  steamed  up  to 
a  point  about  three  miles  below  Fort  Jackson  with  his 
fleet  of  twenty-four  vessels  besides  twenty  schooners, 
each  armed  with  one  13-inch  mortar  and  two  long  32- 
pounders  and  manned  by  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  men,  under  the  command  of  Commander  Porter. 
The  following  steamers  were  detailed  as  tenders  to  the 
mortar  flotilla :  the  Harriet  Lane,  Lieutenant  Jonathan 
M.  Wainwright ;  the  Owasco,  Lieutenant  John  Guest ; 
the  Westfield,  Commander  William  B.  Renshaw ;  the 
Clifton,  Acting- Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Baldwin;  the 
Miami,  Lieutenant  Abram  Davis  Harrell ;  and  the 
Jackson,  Acting-Lieutenant  Selim  E.  Woodworth.  The 
Harriet  Lane  had  been  transferred  from  the  revenue 
service,  the  Owasco  was  of  the  same  class  as  the  Cayuga, 
the  Miami  was  a  double-ender  built  for  the  Govern- 
ment, while  the  Clifton,  the  Jackson  and  the  Westfield 
were  ordinary  side-wheel  ferry  boats  mounting  heavy 
guns. 

As  yet  Captain  Farragut  had  little  idea  of  the 
strength  and  character  of  the  fortifications  he  was 
about  to  attack  or  the  defenses  in  the  river.  He  had 
received  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  sketches  of 
the  works  and  a  memorandum  prepared  by  General 
Barnard,  who  had  constructed  Fort  St.  Philip.  Since 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  however,  it  was  known  that 
the  enemy  had  greatly  strengthened  these  fortifica- 
tions, besides  augmenting  the  defenses  and  obstruc- 
tions in  the  river.  The  first  thing  to  be  done,  there- 
fore, after  getting  the  fleet  into  the  river,  was  to  survey 
the  situation  as  well  as  possible  from  a  distance.  The 
Kennebec,  under  Commander  Bell,  and  the  Wissa- 
hickon,  were  sent  up  the  river  to  reconnoiter,  and 
reported  that  "  the  obstructions  seemed  formidable." 

The  hazardous  duty  of  getting  the  mortar  schooners 
in  position  was  performed  under  the  direction  of  F.  H. 


1812.  PREPARATIONS   FOR  THE  ATTACK.  319 

Gerdes,  of  the  Coast  Survey  service,  who,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  J.  G.  Oltmannis  and  Joseph  Harris,  made  a 
careful  survey  of  the  river  for  several  miles  below  Fort 
Jackson.  The  work  occupied  several  days,  and  as  it 
was  performed  in  open  boats  the  surveyors  were  ex- 
posed to  a  fire  from  sharpshooters  concealed  in  the 
bushes  along  the  banks,  and  sometimes  shells  from  the 
forts  landed  in  unpleasant  proximity.  The  river  was 
finally  triangulated  for  seven  miles,  and  white  flags,  each 
having  the  name  of  the  boat  that  was  to  be  anchored 
near  it,  were  placed  with  great  accuracy.  The  position 
selected  for  the  mortar  boats  was  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  river,  about  two  miles  from  Fort  Jackson,  where 
the  trees  and  the  dense  underbrush  effectually  con- 
cealed them  and  made  it  difficult  for  the  enemy  to  get 
the  range  ;  and  even  if  the  enemy  succeeded  in  firing 
with  accuracy,  the  schooners  could  easily  move  a  few 
rods  without  being  observed  and  thus  again  leave  the 
enemy  in  doubt  as  to  their  whereabouts.  To  hide 
their  movements  more  perfectly,  the  upper  masts  and 
rigging  of  the  schooners  were  dressed  with  branches 
and  vines,  so  that  the  enemy  could  not  distinguish 
them  from  the  trees.  The  mortar  schooners  were  an- 
chored in  three  divisions :  the  first,  of  seven  vessels, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Watson  Smith,  was 
stationed  on  the  west  bank,  about  twenty-eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  from  Fort  Jackson  and  about 
thirty-six  hundred  and  eighty  yards  from  Fort  St. 
Philip. 

This  division  consisted  of  the  Norfolk  Packet,  Lieu- 
tenant Smith  ;  the  Oliver  H.  Lee,  Acting- Master  Wash- 
ington Godfrey ;  the  Para,  Acting-Master  Edward  G. 
Furber ;  the  G.  P.  Williams,  Acting-Master  Amos  R. 
Langthorne ;  the  Arietta,  Acting-Master  Thomas  E. 
Smith ;  the  Bacon,  Acting- Master  William  P.  Rogers ; 
the  Sophronia,  Acting-Master  Lyman  Bartholomew. 
The  third  division,  of  six  schooners,  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  Kidder  Randolph  Breese,  was  in  the  rear  of 


320  BLOCKADING  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

the  first  division.  It  consisted  of  the  John  Griffith, 
Acting- Master  Henry  Brown  ;  the  SarahBruen,  Acting- 
Master  Abraham  Christian ;  the  Racer,  Acting-Master 
Alvin  Phinney ;  the  Sea  Foam,  Acting-Master  Henry 
E.  Williams ;  the  Henry  Janes,  Acting- Master  Lewis 
W.  Pennington ;  the  Dan  Smith,  Acting-Master  George 
W.  Brown.  The  second  division,  of  seven  schooners, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Walter  W.  Queen, 
was  stationed  on  the  east  bank,  about  thirty-six  hun- 
dred and  eighty  yards  from  Fort  Jackson.  This  divi- 
sion consisted  of  the  T.  A.  Ward,  Lieutenant  Queen ; 
Maria  J.  Carlton,  Acting-Master  Charles  E.  Jack ;  the 
Matthew  Vassar,  Acting-Master  Hugh  H.  Savage ;  the 
George  Mangham,  Acting-Master  John  Collins ;  the 
Orvetta,  Acting-Master  Francis  E.  Blanchard  ;  the  Sid- 
ney C.  Jones,  Acting-Master  J.  D.  Graham ;  the  Adolph 
Hugel,  Acting- Master  Van  Buskirk.  The  position  of 
the  second  division  was  greatly  exposed  to  the  ene- 
my's fire. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  April  18th  the 
signal  for  the  mortar  schooners  to  open  fire  was  given, 
and  shortly  afterward  huge  13- inch  shells  were  whis- 
tling through  the  air  in  their  graceful  flight  and  drop- 
ping in  and  around  the  fort,  each  schooner  firing  one 
shell  every  ten  minutes.  The  Confederate  forts  re- 
sponded with  spirit,  but  owing  to  the  concealment 
afforded  by  the  trees  they  fired  with  little  accuracy. 
The  division  under  Lieutenant  Queen,  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river,  fired  with  great  precision,  but  from  its 
exposed  position  it  suffered  considerably  in  return. 
To  divert  the  enemy's  fire  from  these  schooners  as 
much  as  possible,  two  gunboats  took  turns  with  one  of 
the  smaller  sloops  in  steaming  up  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river,  suddenly  shooting  out  in  full  view  of  the 
forts  and  opening  a  rapid  fire  from  their  11-inch  pivot 
guns.  As  they  were  constantly  in  motion,  it  was  diffi- 
cult for  the  Confederate  gunners  to  get  their  range, 
while  the  fire  from  the  11-inch  guns  was  always  effect- 


1862.  MORTAR  SCHOONERS  OPEN  FIRE.  321 

ive.  Lieutenant  Guest,  in  the  Owasco,  held  the  posi- 
tion at  the  head  of  the  line  an  hour  and  fifty  minutes, 
and  left  only  when  his  ammunition  gave  out. 

About  midday  the  T.  A.  Ward  was  struck  by  a  120- 
pound  shot,  which  crashed  into  her  cabin  and  nearly 
fired  the  magazine,  while  soon  afterward  a  10-inch  shot 
struck  the  water  line  of  the  George  Mangham.  Find- 
ing that  their  position  was  becoming  critical,  the 
schooners  dropped  downstream,  anchored  two  hun- 
dred yards  below,  and  resumed  their  fire.  The  mor- 
tars kept  up  their  fire  throughout  the  day,  and  about 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  dense  volumes  of  smoke 
were  observed  rolling  upward  from  Fort  Jackson.  As 
night  came  on,  the  mortars  increased  their  fire  to  a 
shell  every  five  minutes  from  each,  or  two  hundred  and 
forty  shells  an  hour.  Toward  midnight  they  reduced 
their  fire  to  a  shell  every  half  hour,  so  as  to  allow  the 
crews  of  the  mortar  schooners  a  little  rest.  At  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  six  schooners  under  Lieu- 
tenant Queen  were  removed  from  the  left  to  the  right 
bank  under  cover  of  the  woodland. 

The  labor  of  the  men  in  the  mortar  schooners  was 
most  exhausting.  Little  or  no  sleep  could  be  had, 
while  the  terrific  shock  caused  the  little  vessels  to 
shiver  from  stem  to  stern  and  threatened  to  rack  them. 
Every  time  the  mortars  were  fired  the  men  were  com- 
pelled to  run  aft,  and  that  the  concussion  might  be  as 
little  as  possible  they  stood  with  mouths  open  and  on 
tiptoe.  The  explosion  of  so  much  powder  soon  black- 
ened them  from  head  to  foot.  One  of  the  schooners, 
the  Maria  J.  Carlton,  had  been  sunk. 

That  night  the  enemy  sent  down  an  immense  flat- 
boat,  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  fifty  feet,  laden  with 
burning  pine  knots  piled  up  twenty  feet  high,  while 
the  flame  leaped  a  hundred  feet  into  the  air.  As 
the  huge  mass  of  fire  came  down  the  river  toward  the 
thirty-five  wooden  ships  of  the  National  fleet  anchored 
close  together  in  the  narrow  channel,  it  presented  a 

66 


322  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

fearful  spectacle.  The  roaring  and  crackling  flames, 
sometimes  caught  in  a  puff  of  air,  swept  across  the  en- 
tire breadth  of  the  river,  licking  the  water  into  steam 
or  scorching  and  wilting  the  trees  on  the  bank.  Good 
discipline,  together  with  the  indomitable  pluck  of  the 
American  seamen,  came  to  the  rescue.  The  vessels 
that  stood  in  the  course  of  the  fire  quickly  slipped 
their  cables  and  ran  inshore,  allowing  the  raft  to  pass 
harmlessly  by  ;  but  immediate  preparations  were  made 
to  meet  other  attacks  from  fire-boats.  The  steamer 
Westfield,  fitted  with  hose,  was  detailed  as  a  fire  patrol, 
while  a  number  of  boats  armed  with  grapnels,  buckets 
and  axes  were  held  in  readiness  to  tow  the  rafts  in- 
shore before  they  should  reach  the  fleet.  From  that 
time  a  number  of  these  rafts  were  sent  down,  but  so 
perfect  were  the  arrangements  for  receiving  them  that 
no  further  alarm  was  felt,  while  the  sailors  hailed  their 
approach  with  delight  as  affording  amusement  and 
relieving  the  monotony  of  the  siege. 

On  the  third  night  of  the  bombardment,  April  20th, 
the  Pinola,  Lieutenant  Peirce  Crosby,  and  the  Itasca, 
Lieutenant  Charles  Henry  Bromedge  Caldwell,  under 
the  orders  of  Commander  Bell,  were  sent  up  the  river 
to  sever  the  line  of  hulks  and  chains  that  stretched 
across  the  stream  under  the  guns  of  the  forts.  The 
gunboats,  having  first  had  their  lower  masts  and  rig- 
ging taken  out  so  as  to  render  them  less  visible  to 
the  enemy,  set  out  under  cover  of  darkness.  As  they 
approached  the  raft  they  were  discovered  by  the 
enemy  and  a  heavy  fire  was  opened  on  them,  upon 
which  the  mortars  increased  their  fire,  at  times  keep- 
ing nine  shells  in  the  air  at  once.  With  this  diversion 
in  his  favor,  Commander  Bell  kept  steadily  on  his 
course  until  he  reached  the  obstructions,  when  the 
Pinola  ran  alongside  the  third  hulk  from  the  eastern 
shore  and  her  men  boarded.  Charges  of  powder  with 
slow  matches  and  a  petard  were  placed  aboard,  after 
which  the  crew  returned  to  their  ship  and  the  Pinola 


1862.  DARING  NIGHT  EXPEDITIONS.  333 

dropped  astern.  But  the  current  carried  the  gunboat 
down  so  rapidly  -that  the  wires  attached  to  the  petard 
were  severed  and  the  charges  failed  to  explode.  The 
Itasca  then  boldly  ran  alongside  the  second  schooner 
from  the  eastern  shore  and  threw  a  grapnel  aboard, 
which  caught  on  the  hulk's  rail ;  but  the  rail  gave 
way  under  the  strain,  and  the  gunboat  was  carried 
some  distance  downstream  before  she  could  stem  the 
current.  She  then  ran  alongside  the  easternmost 
hulk,  and  by  keeping  her  engines  going  slowly  ahead 
held  her  position  alongside  while  Lieutenant  Caldwell, 
Acting-Masters  Amos  Johnson  and  Edmund  Jones 
jumped  aboard  with  a  party  of  seamen.  While 
Caldwell  was  making  his  preparations  for  firing  the 
hulk  the  chains  holding  her  were  slipped  without  his 
knowledge,  and  as  the  fiasco's  engines  were  going 
ahead  and  had  her  helm  aport,  the  sudden  releasing 
of  the  schooner  caused  both  vessels  to  turn  inshore  and 
run  aground  under  the  guns  of  the  fort.  The  Itasca 
was  compelled  to  remain  in  this  perilous  position  until 
the  Pinola  came  to  her  assistance.  So  far  from  be- 
ing discouraged  by  this  mishap,  Lieutenant  Caldwell 
headed  his  vessel  up  the  river,  passed  through  the  gap 
in  the  obstructions,  and  after  going  some  distance  to 
obtain  a  good  headway  he  came  down  the  stream  with 
a  full  head  of  steam,  and,  striking  the  chains  holding 
the  hulks  together,  he  ran  the  bow  of  his  vessel  three 
or  four  feet  out  of  water  and  her  weight  parted  the 
chains,  leaving  a  larger  gap  in  the  obstruction.  The 
two  gunboats  then  returned  to  the  fleet. 

On  the  night  of  April  23d,  Lieutenant  Caldwell, 
with  Acting-Master  Edmund  Jones,  pulled  up  the  river 
in  one  of  the  Hartford's  boats  to  make  a  final  recon- 
noissance,  as  some  doubt  had  been  expressed  as  to  the 
opening  made  in  the  raft ;  and  if  an  opening  had  been 
made  at  all,  it  was  feared  that  the  enemy  had  repaired 
the  injury.  The  doubt  of  there  being  a  clear  passage 
was  increased  by  the  rippling  of  water  in  the  narrow 


324:  BLOCKADING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  1862. 

gap,  as  if  a  chain  were  there,  which  some  of  the  officers 
noticed.  After  an  exhausting  pull  of  several  miles 
against  the  rapid  current  the  boat  reached  a  place 
where  a  fire  kindled  by  the  Confederates  lighted  the 
river  like  day  and  would  have  discovered  the  adven- 
turers to  sharpshooters.  In  order  to  avoid  this  light 
Lieutenant  Caldwell  headed  his  boat  to  the  opposite 
bank,  and  by  passing  close  under  the  trees  and  bushes 
he  came  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the  obstruc- 
tions. Here  the  party  was  directly  under  the  guns  of 
Fort  Jackson,  and  so  near  that  the  voices  of  the  sol- 
diers could  be  heard.  From  this  place  it  could  be 
distinctly  seen  that  the  water  in  the  gap  was  unob- 
structed ;  but,  in  order  to  be  absolutely  certain,  Lieu- 
tenant Caldwell  ordered  his  men  to  pull  to  the  gap.  In 
doing  this  the  boat  was  compelled  to  pass  directly 
across  a  broad  belt  of  light  and  was  in  full  view  of 
the  enemy.  The  Confederates  probably  believed  it  to 
be  one  of  their  own  boats,  for  they  did  not  fire.  It 
was  found  that  two  or  three  of  the  schooners  had  been 
torn  from  their  position  and  were  ashore.  After  pull- 
ing above  the  obstructions,  where  the  lead  showed 
twelve  to  fifteen  fathoms,  the  boat  party  rested  on  its 
oars  and  floated  downstream,  with  a  heavy  lead  line 
at  the  bow  so  as  to  ascertain  if  there  were  any  barri- 
cades or  explosives  under  the  water.  The  lead  caught 
nothing,  and  after  pulling  above  the  hulks  and  mak- 
ing this  test  a  second  time  Lieutenant  Caldwell  was 
satisfied  that  the  channel  was  clear,  and  he  returned 
with  this  report. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PASSING  FORTS   JACKSON   AND   ST.    PHILIP. 

ABOUT  noon  of  April  20th  thirteen  boats  were 
quietly  trailing  at  the  stern  of  the  Hartford.  The 
commanders  of  the  National  war  ships  were  in  the 
flagship's  cabin,  holding  a  council  of  war.  Opinions 
differed  widely  as  to  the  best  means  to  be  adopted. 
Effective  as  the  bombardment  by  the  mortar  flotilla 
seemed  to  have  been,  the  forts  still  held  out,  and  every 
moment  the  enemy  was  strengthening  his  defenses. 
The  ram  Louisiana  was  thought  to  be  completed,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  ironclads  New  Orleans  and  Mem- 
phis would  be  added  to  the  Confederate  naval  force, 
while  the  most  powerful  war  vessel  ever  projected  by 
the  South,  or  any  other  country  up  to  that  time — the 
Mississippi  —  would  be  finished  in  a  few  days;  so 
that,  instead  of  taking  the  offensive,  the  National  fleet 
would  be  driven  out  of  the  river  and  again  reduced  to 
a  mere  blockading  force.  Taking  the  enemy  unpre- 
pared was  the  first  element  of  success  that  had  been 
counted  upon  when  the  great  New  Orleans  expedition 
was  planned,  and  Farragut  accepted  the  place  of  com- 
mander-in- chief  with  the  understanding  that  he  was 
to  run  past  the  forts — not  merely  to  act  as  an  escort 
to  twenty  mortar  schooners.  His  long  experience  in 
active  service  had  taught  him  to  place  little  reliance  on 
mortars,  and  he  had  accepted  them  merely  as  an  aux- 
iliary battery,  because  they  had  been  ordered  before 
he  was  assigned  to  the  command.  Day  after  day  was 
passing,  and  the  enemy  showed  no  sign  of  weakening. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  fewer  than  ten  guns  of  the  one 

325 


326         PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.  PHILIP.         18C2. 

hundred  and  twenty-six  in  the  two  forts  had  been  dis- 
abled by  the  sixteen  thousand  eight  hundred  shells 
dropped  in  and  around  them,  and  only  four  men  had 
been  killed  and  fourteen  wounded. 

The  proposition  of  running  past  the  forts  did  not 
meet  with  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  Union  offi- 
cers. The  weight  of  tradition  and  long-established 
rules  of  war  were  against  it.  It  was  demonstrated  with 
incontrovertible  accuracy  that  wooden  ships  could 
never  pass  such  batteries  and  remain  afloat.  Had  not 
a  French  admiral  and  Captain  Freed y,  of  the  English 
frigate  Mersey,  just  been  up  the  river  as  far  as  the 
forts  and  reported  that  they  were  impassable?  But 
Farragut  had  known  English  predictions  in  regard  to 
American  naval  prowess  to  fail  before  this.  He  saw 
clearly  enough  that  if  New  Orleans  was  to  be  captured 
by  the  fleet,  it  was  to  be  done  only  by  the  vessels 
running  past  the  forts.  "  Whatever  is  to  be  done  will 
have  to  be  done  quickly,"  he  said,  and  the  night  of 
April  23d  was  fixed  for  the  attempt. 

At  first  it  was  intended  to  have  the  ships  pass  the 
forts  in  a  double  column,  as  there  would  be  less  strag- 
gling and  this  would  enable  the  larger  vessels  to  give 
more  protection  to  the  lighter  ones.  But  the  narrow 
gap  in  the  line  of  obstructions  would  greatly  increase 
the  chances  of  collision  with  the  hulks,  and,  what  was 
more  serious,  collision  between  the  vessels  themselves  ; 
and  Farragut  therefore  determined  to  range  his  vessels 
in  single  line  and  to  pass  the  forts  in  three  divisions,  one 
after  the  other.  The  vessels  were  arranged  in  the  follow- 
ing order :  First  Division,  Captain  Theodoras  Bailey  ;  * 
the  Cayuga,  Lieutenant  Napoleon  Bonaparte  Harrison ; 
the  Pensacola,  Captain  Henry  W.  Morris  ;  the  Missis- 
sippi,* Commander  Melancton  Smith ;  the  Oneida,  Com- 
mander Samuel  Phillips  Lee ;  the  Varuna,  Command- 

1  The  present  Rear- Admiral  Francis  John  Higginson  acted  as  aide  and 
signal  midshipman  to  Bailey. 

8  Admiral  Dewey  was  serving  in  the  Mississippi  as  a  lieutenant. 


1862.  FARRAGUT'S  LINE  OF  BATTLE.  327 

er  Charles  Stuart  Boggs ;  the  KataJhdin,  Lieutenant 
George  Henry  Preble ;  the  Kineo,  Lieutenant  George 
Marcellus  Ransom ;  and  the  Wissahickon,  Lieutenant 
Albert  N.  Smith.  The  Second  or  Center  Division  was 
to  be  led  by  Captain  Farragut  himself  in  the  Hartford, 
Commander  Richard  Wainwright ;  followed  by  the 
Brooklyn,  Captain  Thomas  Tingey  Craven,  and  Rich- 
mond, Commander  James  Alden.  The  Third  Division, 
commanded  by  Commander  Henry  H.  Bell,  was  to  be 
led  by  the  Sciota,  Lieutenant  Edward  Donaldson  ;  fol- 
lowed by  the  Iroquois,  Commander  John  Decamp  ;  the 
Kennebec,  Lieutenant  John  Henry  Russell ;  the  Pino- 
la,  Lieutenant  Peirce  Crosby ;  the  Itasca,  Lieutenant 
Charles  Henry  Bromedge  Caldwell ;  the  Winona,  Lieu- 
tenant Edward  Tattnall  Nichols.1 

The  23d  of  April  was  taken  up  with  final  prepara- 
tions for  the  great  battle.  Bags  of  sand,  ashes  and  coal, 
sails,  hammocks,  etc.,  were  piled  around  the  machinery 
and  exposed  parts  of  the  ships,  some  of  the  hulls  were 
daubed  with  yellow  river  mud  to  make  them  less  visible 
to  the  Confederate  gunners,  and  many  of  the  decks 
and  gun  carriages  were  whitewashed,  so  that  objects  on 
them  would  be  more  readily  distinguished  in  the  night, 

1  These  vessels  carried  the  following  armaments  :  Hartford,  twenty-two 
9-inch,  two  rifled  20-ponnders ;  Brooklyn,  twenty  9-inch,  one  rifled  80- 
pounder,  one  rifled  30-pounder :  Richmond,  twenty-two  9-inch,  one  rifled 
80-pounder, one  rifled  30-pounder;  Pensacola,  one  11-inch,  twenty  9-inch, 
one  rifled  100-pounder,  one  rifled  80-pounder;  Mississippi,  one  10-inch, 
fifteen  8-inch,  one  rifled  20-poumler ;  O»eida,  two  11-inch,  four  32-pound- 
ers, three  rifled  30-pounders ;  Iroquois,  two  11 -inch,  four  32-pounders, 
one  rifled  50-pounder ;  Varuna.  eight  8-inch,  two  rifled  30-pounders ; 
Caynga,  Katahdin,  Kennebec,  A'ineo,  Pinola,  Sciota,  Winona,  Wissa- 
hickon,  each  carried  one  11-inch,  one  rifled  30-pounder ;  Itasca,  one  10- 
inch,  one  rifled  30-pounder.  The  armaments  of  the  steamers  of  the  mor- 
tar flotilla  were :  Harriet  Lane,  three  9-inch  guns ;  Clifton,  two  9-inch, 
four  32-pounders,  one  rifled  30-pounder ;  Jackson,  one  10-inch,  one  9- 
inch,  one  6-inch  rifled  Sawyer,  four  32-pounders ;  Westfield,  one  9-inch, 
four  8-inch,  one  rifled  100-pounder;  Miami,  two  9-inch,  one  rifled  100- 
potmder,  one  rifled  80-pounder,  one  rifled  30-pounder;  Owasco,  one  11- 
inch,  one  rifled  30-pounder. 


328          PASSING   FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         18C2. 

as  it  was  proposed  to  have  as  few  lanterns  lighted  as 
possible.  At  the  suggestion  of  Chief-Engineer  J.  W. 
Moore,  of  the  Richmond,  the  sheet  cables  were  ar- 
ranged up  and  down  the  hulls  of  the  ships,  so  as  to 
protect  the  machinery.  The  holds  or  the  cockpits  of 
the  vessels  were  cleared  of  the  stores  piled  there,  and 
made  ready — for  the  first  time,  perhaps — for  the  recep- 
tion of  wounded  men.  Tables  were  arranged  in  con- 
venient positions,  and  the  surgeons  prepared  their  in- 
struments, while  buckets  and  tubs  were  placed  in 
readiness  to  receive  the  blood  and  severed  members  of 
the  human  body.  Aboard  the  Brooklyn  a  cot  frame 
was  slung  from  two  davits  and  so  arranged  that  the 
wounded  could  be  lowered  down  the  main  hatch  and 
taken  to  the  surgeon's  table  in  the  fore  hold.  The 
ropes,  hawsers  etc.  were  packed  in  the  sick  bay  in  a 
solid  mass,  kedge  anchors  attached  to  hawsers  were 
slung  to  the  main-brace  bumkins  on  each  quarter  in 
case  it  became  necessary  to  turn  the  ship  suddenly, 
and,  in  some,  hammocks  or  netting  made  of  rope  were 
spread  so  as  to  catch  splinters.  The  men  in  the  tops 
were  protected  from  musketry  fire  by  iron  bulwarks ; 
the  heavy  weights  in  the  ship  were  stowed  in  the  for- 
ward part,  so  that  if  they  grounded  at  all  the  bow 
would  strike  first  and  the  swift  current  would  not 
swing  them  broadside  to  across  the  river.  All  un- 
necessary spars,  boats,  rigging  etc.  had  been  sent 
ashore  at  Pilot  Town  and  the  vessels  stripped  for  the 
fight.  Five  of  the  nine  gunboats  took  out  their  masts 
entirely,  as  the  Pinola  and  the  Itasca  had  done  when 
severing  the  raft  on  the  20th  of  April. 

On  the  afternoon  of  April  23d  Farragut  personally 
visited  every  vessel  in  the  fleet,  to  see  if  his  orders  for 
the  night  were  clearly  understood.  Having  done  this, 
he  returned  to  his  own  ship  and  made  his  personal  ar- 
rangements for  the  battle.  The  evening  came  on  clear 
and  starlit,  while  nothing  served  to  break  the  silence  or  to 
conceal  the  movements  of  the  vessels.  At  about  five  min- 


1802.  GETTING   UNDER  WAY.  329 

utesof  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  April  24th,  two  ordi- 
nary red  lights  (so  as  not  to  attract  the  enemy's  notice) 
in  a  vertical  line  appeared  in  the  rigging  of  the  flagship, 
and  immediately  afterward  the  click  of  capstans  and  the 
harsh  grating  of  cables  fell  upon  the  midnight  air  from 
all  parts  of  the  anchorage,  and  proclaimed  to  the  Con- 
federate lookouts  concealed  in  the  woods  that  the  fleet 
was  about  to  begin  some  serious  movement.  The  alarm 
was  quickly  conveyed  to  the  forts,  and  scarcely  were 
the  ships  under  way  before  the  enemy  was  in  readiness 
to  receive  the  attack.  The  unusual  strength  of  the  cur- 
rent delayed  the  ships,  so  that  it  was  3.30  before  the 
entire  fleet  wras  under  way.  The  five  steamers  that  had 
been  used  for  towing  the  mortar  schooners  wrere  moved 
up  the  river  to  a  position  about  two  hundred  yards  from 
the  water-battery  opposite  Fort  Jackson,  where,  by  run- 
ning close  under  the  levee,  their  hulls  would  be  entirely 
protected  from  the  enemy's  shot,  and  about  the  time 
the  first  division  of  ships  was  well  under  way  the  mor- 
tar steamers  opened  their  fire.  The  sailing  sloop  of  war 
Portsmouth,  Commander  Samuel  Swartwout,  also  was 
towed  by  the  steamer  Jackson  to  a  position  where  she 
could  enfilade  the  enemy's  batteries.  Soon  after  the 
fleet  got  under  way  large  bonfires  on  the  banks  and 
huge  fire  rafts  on  the  water  illuminated  the  whole  scene, 
enabling  the  Confederate  gunners  to  fire  with  accuracy. 
The  mortar  schooners  now  began  to  thunder  out  their 
huge  shells,  keeping  two  constantly  in  the  air,  while 
the  five  steamers  near  the  water-battery  opened  with 
grape  and  shrapnel. 

As  soon  as  the  head  of  the  National  line  was  in 
range  the  Confederates  opened  from  every  gun  that 
bore.  The  scene  was  one  of  indescribable  grandeur. 
The  huge  13-inch  shells  left  their  beds  with  thunderous 
reports  ;  revolving  the  light  of  their  fuses  rapidly  in  the 
air,  they  rushed  to  the  apex  of  their  flight,  where  they 
seemed  to  pause  for  a  moment,  and  then  descended  in 
a  graceful  curve,  exploding  in  or  over  the  forts.  Some 


330         PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.  PHILIP.         1862. 

of  them  burst  in  mid-air,  sending  a  shower  of  iron  frag- 
ments and  sparks  in  all  directions.  The  constant  flash- 
ing of  so  many  guns,  together  with  the  flickering  light 
of  the  fire-rafts,  produced  a  shimmering  illumination 
over  the  river,  which,  although  brilliant,  was  illusive 
and  made  it  difficult  to  take  accurate  aim.  Soon  dark 
masses  of  smoke  began  to  float  across  the  river,  ob- 
structing the  line  of  vision  here  and  there  and  adding 
greatly  to  the  confusion. 

About  3.45  A.  M.  the  Cayuga  was  well  under  the 
forts.  Captain  Bailey,  whose  ship,  the  Colorado,  was 
unable  to  cross  the  bar,  had  asked  for  an  opportunity 
to  take  part  in  the  fight  and  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  first  division,  while  his  men  were  distributed 
among  the  crews.  He  pressed  gallantly  toward  Fort  St. 
Philip,  leaving  the  other  divisions  to  attack  Fort  Jack- 
son. The  Cayuga  was  now  the  center  of  a  terrific  storm 
of  shot,  to  which  she  could  make  no  effective  answer. 
"The  air,"  said  Lieutenant  Perkins,  who  was  piloting 
the  Cayuga,  "was  filled  with  shells  and  explosives, 
which  almost  blinded  me  as  I  stood  on  the  forecastle 
trying  to  see  my  way,  for  I  had  never  been  up  the  river 
before.  I  soon  saw  that  the  guns  of  the  forts  were  well 
aimed  for  the  center  of  the  midstream,  so  I  steered  close 
under  the  walls  of  Fort  St.  Philip,  and  although  our 
masts  and  rigging  got  badly  shot  through,  our  hull  was 
but  little  damaged.  After  passing  the  last  battery  and 
thinking  we  were  clear,  I  looked  back  for  some  of  our 
vessels,  and  my  heart  jumped  into  my  mouth  when  I 
found  I  could  not  see  a  single  one.  I  thought  they  all 
must  have  been  sunk  by  the  forts.  Looking  ahead,  I 
saw  eleven  of  the  enemy's  gunboats  coming  down  upon 
us,  and  it  seemed  as  if  we  were  gone,  sure." 

Undaunted  by  the  heavy  odds,  Captain  Bailey  boldly 
stood  on  and  prepared  to  attack  three  large  steamers 
that  made  a  dash  at  him  with  the  intention  of  running 
him  down.  One  headed  for  the  Cayuga's  starboard 
bow,  another  came  on  at  right  angles  amidship,  and  a 


1362.  THE   CAYUGA  GALLANTLY  LEADS.  331 

third  came  up  on  the  stern.  The  11-inch  Dahlgren  gun 
was  deliberately  trained  on  the  second  steamer,  and 
when  at  a  distance  of  thirty  yards  it  was  fired.  The 
shot  crippled  the  enemy,  and  he  sheered  off,  ran  in- 
shore, and  was  soon  wrapped  in  flames.  The  Parrott 
rifled  gun  on  the  forecastle  also  lodged  a  shot  in  the 
steamer  off  the  starboard  bow,  which  compelled  her  to 
haul  off.  This  left  only  the  steamer  coming  up  on  the 
sfarboard  quarter.  The  boarders  were  immediately 
called  aft,  but  at  this  moment  the  Varuna,  which  had 
been  fifth  in  line,  came  swiftly  up  the  river  and  crip- 
pled the  enemy  with  a  shell.  The  Cayuga  had  now 
been  struck  by  forty-two  shot.  Her  masts  were  so 
shattered  as  to  be  unfit  for  use,  the  carriage  of  her  11- 
inch  Dahlgren  gun  was  broken,  and  her  smokestack 
was  riddled ;  but  as  her  machinery  remained  intact 
she  still  advanced.  The  Varuna,  however,  soon  passed 
her  and  sped  up  the  river,  delivering  her  fire  right 
and  left.  A  steamer  filled  with  soldiers  soon  ap- 
peared off  her  starboard  beam,  and  Commander  Boggs 
put  a  shot  into  her  boiler,  which  caused  her  to  drift 
ashore.  Two  other  steamers  and  one  gunboat  also 
were  crippled  and  driven  ashore  in  flames  by  the  Va- 
runa. But,  unknown  to  Commander  Boggs,  a  more 
formidable  enemy  was  swiftly  pursuing  and  gradually 
overtaking  him. 

When  the  National  fleet  was  getting  under  way,  the 
Governor  Moore  lay  near  Fort  St.  Philip,  with  her 
lights  carefully  concealed  and  with  a  double  guard  of 
sentinels.  About  half  past  two  in  the  morning  her 
vigilant  commander,  Lieutenant  Beverley  Kennon,  de- 
tected unusual  sounds  down  the  river,  and  climbing 
over  the  side  of  the  vessel,  he  placed  his  ear  near  the 
water  and  distinctly  heard  the  stroke  of  a  paddle-wheel 
steamer  apparently  coming  up  stream.  He  rightly 
conjectured  that  it  was  the  Mississippi  coming  up 
with  the  fleet,  and  firing  two  alarm  guns,  he  got  up 
steam  in  three  minutes,  and  proceeded  a  short  distance 


332         PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON    AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

up  the  river  so  as  to  have  a  better  opportunity  for  ram- 
ming. While  feeling  his  way  in  the  gloom,  Lieutenant 
Kennon  saw  a  large  two- masted  steamer  emerge  from 
the  darkness  and  pass  between  him  and  the  light  of  the 
burning  steamer,  "rushing  upstream  like  an  ocean 
racer,  belching  black  smoke,  firing  on  each  burning 
vessel  as  she  passed."  It  was  the  Varuna,  leading  the 
line  of  vessels  up  the  river.  As  the  stranger  carried 
a  white  light  at  the  masthead  and  a  red  light  at  the 
peak,  Lieutenant  Kennon  knew  that  she  was  one  of  the 
National  vessels.  He  also  knew  that  General  Lovell, 
commander  of  the  Confederate  forces  at  New  Orleans, 
had  come  down  the  river  to  visit  the  forts  that  evening, 
and-had  just  passed  up  the  river  in  the  steamer  Doub- 
loon, on  his  return  to  the  city. 

Knowing  that  the*"  ocean  racer  "would  soon  over- 
take the  Doubloon,  Lieutenant  Kennon,  after  shooting 
away  his  blue  distinguishing  light  at  the  masthead 
with  a  musket  (for  hauling  it  down  would  have  at- 
tracted attention),  set  off  in  chase  of  the  Varuna.  The 
trees  and  thick  underbrush  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
near  which  the  Governor  Moore  was  steaming  formed 
a  dark  background  and  prevented  the  people  in  the 
National  gunboat  from  discovering  her.  By  putting 
oil  on  his  fires  Kennon  got  up  a  full  head  of  steam, 
and  soon  had  the  steamer  "shaking  all  over  and  fairly 
dancing  through  the  water."  In  order  to  deceive  the 
Varuna,  Lieutenant  Kennon  now  hoisted  the  Union 
distinguishing  lights,  and  in  this  way  the  two  steamers 
sped  up  the  river,  the  Governor  Moore  gradually  gain- 
ing and  the  people  in  the  Varuna  ignorant  of  an  ap- 
proaching foe. 

When  near  the  battery  at  Chalmette,  day  just 
breaking,  the  two  vessels  were  only  one  hundred  yards 
apart,  and  Lieutenant  Kennon  hauled  down  the  Union 
light  and  fired  at  the  Varuna.  But  the  shot  missed 
its  mark.  The  people  in  the  Varuna  responded  to  this 
unexpected  attack  with  such  guns  as  bore,  but  they 


1862.       THE  VARUNA  AND  THE  GOVERNOR  MOORE.         333 

were  afraid  to  yaw  across  the  river  so  as  to  bring  their 
broadside  to  bear  lest  they  should  be  rammed  by  the 
rapidly  approaching  enemy.  In  this  way  a  running 
fight  ensued,  with  the  advantage  decidedly  in  the  Va- 
runa? s  favor,  for  her  shells  were  raking  the  Governor 
Moore,  killing  and  wounding  men  at  every  fire.  One 
shot  from  the  Confederate  gunboat,  however,  raked  the 
Varuna  along  the  port  gangway,  killing  four  men  and 
wounding  nine.  Finding  that  his  bow  gun  was  too 
far  abaft  the  knightheads  to  hull  the  Varuna,  Lieuten- 
ant Kennon  ran  up  to  close  quarters  and  deliberately 
fired  through  his  own  bow,  hoping  to  throw  a  shell 
into  the  Varuna's  engine  room.  The  missile  struck 
the  hawse  pipe,  was  deflected,  and  passed  through  the 
Varuna's  smokestack.  But  a  second  shot,  fired 
through  the  hole  made  by  the  first  in  the  Governor 
Moore's  bow,  struck  the  Varund*s  pivot  gun  and 
killed  or  wounded  several  men.  Soon  after  this  the 
Varuna  ported  her  helm,  and  the  Governor  Moore  fol- 
lowed the  example,  but  under  cover  of  smoke  the  latter 
suddenly  put  her  helm  hard  to  starboard,  and  before 
the  Varuna  could  right  herself  she  was  rammed  near 
the  starboard  quarter,  at  the  same  instant  delivering 
her  broadside  and  receiving  a  shell  from  the  Confeder- 
ate steamer.  Backing  clear,  the  Governor  Moore  again 
rammed,  striking  in  nearly  the  same  place  as  before; 
while  Commander  Boggs  managed  at  the  same  time  to 
get  in  three  8-inch  shells,  which  set  fire  to  his  antag- 
onist and  caused  her  to  drop  out  of  action.  Lieuten- 
ant Kennon  attempted  to  fight  again,  but  all  his  boat's 
steering  gear  was  destroyed,  a  large  piece  of  the  walk- 
ing-beam had  been  carried  away,  the  slide  of  the  engine 
fell  and  cracked  the  cylinder,  filling  the  engine  room 
with  steam,  and  fifty-seven  of  his  men  had  been  killed 
and  seventeen  wounded.  After  drifting  about  help- 
lessly some  time  he  ran  the  Governor  Moore  ashore, 
where  she  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge. 

But  scarcely  had  the  Varuna  disposed  of  this  ene- 


334         PASSING   FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         18G2. 

my  when  another,  the  Stonewall  Jackson,  loomed  out 
of  the  darkness  on  the  port  side  and  struck  the  Varuna 
on  the  gangway,  doing  considerable  damage.  The  Va- 
runa delivered  her  fire,  but  with  little  effect.  The 
enemy  then  backed  off  and  again  rammed  the  Varuna 
in  the  same  place,  this  time  crushing  in  her  side  below 
the  water  line.  Without  diminishing  her  speed,  the 
Varuna  dragged  the  ram  ahead  so  as  to  bring  her 
broadside  guns  into  play,  and  fired  five  8-inch  shells 
into  the  Stonewall  Jackson,  so  that  she  drifted  ashore 
in  flames.  But  as  the  Varuna  also  was  rapidly  sink- 
ing, Commander  Boggs  ran  her  ashore,  let  go  his  an- 
chor and  made  fast  to  the  trees  on  the  bank,  during 
which  time,  however,  his  guns  were  still  playing  on  the 
Governor  Moore,  which  was  making  a  feeble  effort  to 
get  up  steam.  The  guns  of  the  Varuna  were  fought 
until  the  water  covered  the  gun-trucks,  when  attention 
was  given  to  getting  the  men  ashore.  "  In  fifteen  min- 
utes from  the  time  the  Varuna  was  struck  [by  the 
Stonewall  Jackson]  she  was  on  the  bottom,  with  only 
her  topgallant  forecastle  out  of  water."  ' 

In  approaching  the  forts  the  vessels  of  the  first 
division  maintained  their  prescribed  positions  until 
passing  the  obstructions,  when  they  became  somewhat 
confused.  The  Oneida  soon  overhauled  the  Missis- 
sippi, and,  being  caught  in  a  strong  eddy,  was  carried 
swiftly  past  Fort  St.  Philip,  and  so  close  under  its  guns 
that  the  sparks  from  the  cannon  came  aboard.  The 
enemy,  miscalculating  the  distance,  fired  too  high,  so 
that  she  passed  almost  unscathed,  while  her  grape  and 
shrapnel  swept  the  parapets  at  short  range.  One  shell 
from  Fort  Jackson  entered  the  coal  bunker  on  the  port 
side  but  did  not  explode.  Getting  past  the  forts  and 
out  of  their  line  of  fire,  the  Oneida  pushed  ahead  to 
join  the  Gayuga  and  the  Varuna,  then  struggling  with 
the  Confederate  gunboats.  Passinglhe  ram  Manassas 

1  Official  report  of  Commander  Boggs. 


18G2.  BETWEEN  THE  FORTS.  335 

without  being  able  to  strike  her,  Commander  Lee  dis- 
covered a  steamer  crossing  his  course  only  a  short  dis- 
tance ahead,  and,  putting  on  a  full  head  of  steam,  he 
struck  the  enemy  amidships,  crushing  in  her  starboard 
quarter,  so  that  she  drifted  away  in  a  sinking  condi- 
tion. Continuing  his  course,  he  soon  found  himself 
among  the  enemy's  vessels  and  began  delivering  his 
broadsides  right  and  left.  Just  as  he  fell  in  with  the 
Cayuga,  the  Governor  Moore  loomed  up  within  a  few 
feet,  and  on  being  hailed  "What  ship  is  that? "  Lieu- 
tenant Kennon  answered,  "The  United  States  steamer 
Mississippi.''1  But  the  Union  commander  was  not  so 
easily  deceived,  and,  observing  the  distinguishing  lights 
in  the  stranger,  he  raked  her  with  his  starboard  guns. 
Learning  that  the  Varuna  was  ahead  and  unsupported, 
Commander  Lee  hastened  on  and  discovered  his  consort 
in  a  sinking  condition.  As  Captain  Boggs  declined  all 
assistance,  the  Oneida  passed  ahead. 

The  Mississippi  and  the  Pensacola  deliberately 
slowed  up  when  passing  the  forts,  frequently  stop- 
ping so  that  their  powerful  batteries  could  play  with 
full  effect  on  the  fortifications,  while  the  smaller  vessels 
passed  ahead  with  but  little  injury.  So  near  were 
these  vessels  to  the  enemy  that  at  times  the  jeers  of 
defiance  and  the  oaths  and  imprecations  exchanged 
by  the  contending  men  could  be  heard  above  the  roar 
of  battle.  The  Mississippi  was  struck  repeatedly, 
eight  shot  passing  entirely  through  the  ship,  but  for- 
tunately inflicting  no  vital  injury,  although  one  of 
them  caused  a  slight  alteration  in  a  bearing  of  the 
shaft.  Her  rigging  was  badly  cut  up,  and  the  mizzen 
mast  was  struck  about  twelve  feet  above  the  deck. 

The  ram  Manassas,  after  passing  the  Varuna,  came 
rapidly  down  the  river  in  search  of  larger  game.  The 
Pensacola  was  the  next  vessel  she  discovered,  and, 
putting  on  full  steam,  she  endeavored  to  ram  her ;  but 
Captain  Morris  discovered  the  ram  just  in  time,  and 
Lieutenant  Francis  Asbury  Roe,  who  was  conning  the 


336          PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

Pensacola,  "avoided  a  collision  beautifully,"1  and, 
passing  close  by,  fired  his  starboard  broadside.  The 
shot  did  not  take  effect,  except  cutting  away  the  flag- 
staff, and  the  next  instant  the  Manassas  had  vanished 
in  the  darkness.  After  remaining  in  front  of  the  forts 
two  hours,  the  Pensacola  steamed  up  the  river,  and, 
observing  the  Varuna  in  a  disabled  condition,  sent  her 
boats  aboard  and  took  off  seven  officers  and  about  sixty 
of  the  crew. 

Having  missed  the  Pensacola,  the  Manassas  made 
for  the  Mississippi,  and,  favored  by  the  darkness  and 
dense  smoke,  managed  to  strike  her  on  the  port  quar- 
ter, a  little  forward  of  the  mizzen  mast,  making  a  gash 
seven  feet  long  and  four  inches  deep,  and  took  off  fifty 
copper  bolts  under  the  water  line.  Had  the  blow  been 
a  little  deeper,  the  Mississippi  would  have  sunk 
immediately.  After  this  escape  Commander  Smith 
steamed  ahead,  passed  the  Confederate  line  of  fire, 
and  disabled  an  enemy's  steamer  with  a  broadside. 

The  Katahdln  followed  close  in  the  Varuna's 
wake.  The  fire  of  her  pivot  gun  was  much  embar- 
rassed by  the  shells  jamming  in  the  bore,  the  sabots  be- 
ing too  large.  Five  shells  were  passed  up  before  one 
could  be  found  to  fit.  By  keeping  up  a  full  head  of 
steam,  Lieutenant  Preble  was  enabled  to  maintain  his 
position  close  astern  of  the  Varuna,  although  the  dense 
smoke  hid  everything  from  view  except  when  lighted  by 
the  fitful  flashes  of  the  guns.  Overtaking  the  Missis- 
sippi, he  ran  above  the  forts  and  passed  within  fifty 
yards  of  the  ironclad  Louisiana,  which  was  moored  near 
Fort  St.  Philip.  Fortunately,  the  iron  monster  did  not 
fire  upon  her,  or  the  course  of  the  Katahdin  would 
have  been  cut  short.  But  Lieutenant  Preble  fired  an 
11 -inch  shot  at  the  ram  with  some  effect.  The  KataTi- 
din  had  passed  the  fort  almost  uninjured.  "Several 
of  the  men  had  their  clothing  torn  by  shot  and  fragments 

1  Lieutenant  A.  F.  Warley,  of  the  Manassas. 


1862.  FARRAGUT   UNDER  FIRE.  337- 

of  shell,  but  not  a  man  was  even  scratched.  The  vessel 
also  escaped  without  serious  damage.  One  shell  passed 
through  the  smokestack  and  the  steam-escape  pipe  and 
burst,  making  a  dozen  small  holes  from  the  inside  out- 
ward, and  another  shot  cut  about  four  to  six  inches 
into  the  foremast,  while  the  same  or  another  shot  cut 
the  foresail  and  some  of  the  running  rigging  about  the 
foremast."  l  The  Kineo,  in  passing  the  hulks,  came 
into  violent  collision  with  the  Brooklyn,  but  no  serious 
injury  was  done.  The  Wissahickoti  also  passed  the 
forts  without  serious  injury. 

While  the  first  division  of  the  fleet  was  getting  into 
close  quarters  with  Fort  St.  Philip,  Captain  Farragut, 
leading  the  second  division  in  the  Hartford,  passed 
the  barriers  and  came  into  range.  For  fifteen  minutes 
after  the  enemy  had  opened  on  him  he  did  not  reply, 
but  kept  steadily  on  his  course  under  a  full  head  of 
steam.  When  in  easy  range,  about  3.55  A.  M.,  he 
opened  with  his  bow  guns,  and  as  he  swept  past  Fort 
St.  Philip  he  discharged  his  broadside.  By  this  time 
the  river  between  the  two  forts  was  covered  with  a 
dense  mass  of  smoke,  completely  enveloping  the  ships 
and  shores,  so  that  even  the  monstrous  fire-rafts,  which 
in  the  earlier  part  of  the  action  illuminated  the  scene 
like  day,  now  failed  to  penetrate  the  gloom,  merely 
making  a  dull  red  glow  in  their  direction  and  render- 
ing the  darkness  the  more  striking  by  the  contrast. 

At  4.15  A.  M.,  while  the  Hartford  was  carefully 
feeling  her  way  along,  a  huge  fire  -  raft  suddenly 
loomed  up  off  her  port  quarter,  and,  guided  by  an  un- 
seen hand,  made  directly  for  the  flagship.  The  order 
"Hard  aport !  "  was  instantly  given,  but  the  current 
caught  the  frigate,  and,  giving  her  a  broad  sheer,  ran  her 
hard  and  fast  on  the  muddy  bank,  where  the  bushes  on 
shore  could  be  reached  from  her  bowsprit,  and  at  such 
a  short  distance  from  Fort  St.  Philip  that  the  gunners 

1  Official  report  of  Lieutenant  Preble. 
67 


338          PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

in  the  casemates  could  be  distinctly  heard  talking. 
The  enemy  quickly  recognized  the  Hartford  by  her 
three  ensigns  and  the  flag-officer's  flag  at  the  mizzen, 
and  began  firing  on  her  with  great  rapidity.  ' '  It 
seemed  to  be  breathing  a  flame,"  said  Farragut  after 
the  action.  "On  the  deck  of  the  ship  it  was  bright 
as  noonday,  but  out  over  the  majestic  river,  where  the 
smoke  of  many  guns  was  intensified  by  that  of  the 
pine  knots  of  the  fire  rafts,  it  was  dark  as  the  blackest 
midnight."  1  Fortunately  the  Confederates  aimed  too 
high,  so  that  most  of  their  shot  passed  over  the  bul- 
warks. 

But  the  terrible  fire-raft  was  at  hand.  Guided 
by  the  thirty-five-ton  tugboat  Mosher,  it  was  pushed 
against  the  wooden  side  of  the  flagship,  and  the  flames, 
pouring  into  the  portholes,  drove  the  men  from  their 
guns,  or,  rolling  up  her  sides  and  mounting  into  the 
well-oiled  rigging,  ran  up  to  the  mastheads  and  seemed 
to  envelop  the  ship  in  a  sheet  of  flame.  Two  years 
afterward  Farragut  wrote :  "  It  was  the  anxious  night 
of  my  life.  I  felt  as  if  the  fate  of  my  country  and  my 
own  life  and  reputation  were  all  on  the  wheel  of  for- 
tune." But  the  men,  animated  by  the  example  of 
their  intrepid  commander,  maintained  perfect  self-com- 
mand, and  under  the  direction  of  Commander  Wain- 
wright  they  attacked  the  fire.  At  one  time  a  long 
tongue  of  flame  was  thrust  through  a  port,  and  for  a 
moment  the  men  were  driven  from  their  guns.  Farra- 
gut, who  was  calmly  pacing  the  poop  deck,  shouted 
out,  "  Don't  flinch  from  that  fire,  boys  !  There  is  a  hot- 
ter fire  for  those  who  don't  do  their  duty  !  Give  that 
rascally  little  tug  a  shot,  and  don't  let  her  go  off  with 
a  whole  coat."  A  strer.m  of  water  was  brought  to  bear, 
and  the  flames  were  extinguished  before  they  had  made 
serious  headway ;  soon  afterward  a  shot  entered  the 
Mosher's  boiler  and  sank  her.  The  engines  were  then 

1  Lieutenant  Albert  Kautz,  of  the  Hartford. 


1862.  CRAVEN  IN  ACTION.  339 

reversed,  the  ship  swung  around,  and  as  she  once  more 
got  into  deep  water  her  fcrew  gave  three  cheers.  All 
this  time  the  Hartford  had  maintained  a  heavy  fire 
on  Fort  St.  Philip,  which  was  kept  up  until  she  was 
out  of  gunshot.  About  this  time  a  large  steamer  filled 
with  troops  made  a  dash  at  her,  with  the  intention  of 
getting  alongside  and  boarding,  but  a  single  well-aimed 
shell  crippled  the  stranger  and  sent  her  drifting  down 
the  stream. 

Closely  following  the  Hartford  was  the  sloop  of  war 
Brooklyn.  Captain  Craven  had  taken  every  precaution 
for  the  battle.  Just  before  getting  under  way  his  decks 
had  been  washed  down  and  sanded  so  as  to  make  them 
less  slippery  when  blood  began  to  flow.  For  twenty 
minutes  after  the  ship  was  well  within  range  of  the  ene- 
my's fire  he  refrained  from  answering,  the  men  stand- 
ing silently  at  their  guns  while  shot  and  shell  seemed 
to  fill  the  air  over  their  heads.  Captain  Craven  him- 
self, calm  and  collected,  stood  on  the  break  of  the 
poop  deck,  resting  his  hands  lightly  on  the  ratline, 
intently  watching  the  progress  of  the  battle  and  giving 
the  few  necessary  orders  in  his  deep  bass  voice  that 
could  be  heard  in  all  parts  of  the  ship.  The  clouds  of 
smoke,  shutting  in  the  view  to  a  short  distance,  ren- 
dered it  impossible  to  aim  with  accuracy,  and  Captain 
Craven  determined  to  bring  his  broadside  guns  into  full 
range  before  opening  fire. 

As  the  Brooklyn  approached  the  obstructions  the 
water-battery  opposite  Fort  Jackson  opened  a  most  de- 
structive fire  on  her,  to  which  Craven  responded  with 
grape  and  canister.  In  the  darkness  and  confusion  he 
lost  sight  of  his  leader,  the  Hartford,  and  instead  of 
passing  through  the  opening  he  ran  into  the  line  of 
chains.  Backing  clear  of  this,  the  Brooklyn  steamed 
up  the  river  again  to  find  the  opening,  but  she  ran  again 
into  the  obstruction.  This  time,  however,  the  chains 
broke,  and  as  she  swung  alongside  one  of  the  hulks, 
the  Brooklyn's  stream  anchor,  which  was  hanging  on 


340          PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         18G2. 

the  starboard  quarter  in  readiness  to  let  go  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice,  caught  the  hulk  and  held  the  ship  just 
where  the  gunners  in  the  fort  had  long  since  got  the 
most  accurate  range.  While  thus  entangled  she  was 
subjected  to  a  dreadful  tire.  One  shot  from  Fort  Jack- 
son broke  off  the  port-quarter  anchor  close  to  the  stock, 
scattering  the  fragments  over  the  deck.  Several  shot 
hulled  her,  one  of  them  striking  the  rail  at  the  break 
of  the  poop  deck  and  plowing  a  deep  furrow  across  the 
planks.  Another  shot  cut  Midshipman  John  Ander- 
son and  the  signal  quartermaster,  Barney  Sands,  al- 
most in  two.  Young  Anderson,  whose  ship  had  been 
detailed  for  another  duty,  had  volunteered  to  serve  in 
the  Brooklyn.  Early  in  the  fight  Quartermaster  James 
Buck  received  a  painful  wound,  "  but  for  seven  hours 
afterward  he  stood  bravely  at  the  wheel  and  performed 
his  duty,  refusing  to  go  below  until  positively  ordered 
to  do  so  ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  25th,  without  my 
knowledge,  he  again  stole  to  his  station  and  steered 
the  ship  from  early  daylight  until  1.30  p.  M.,  over  eight 
hours."  * 

The  hawser  holding  the  Brooklyn  to  the  hulk  was 
quickly  severed,  and  again  the  sloop  of  war  headed  up- 
stream ;  but  scarcely  had  she  got  under  way  when  a 
sudden  jar  was  felt,  the  engine  stopped,  "and  a  thrill 
of  alarm  ran  through  the  ship."  To  prevent  the  Brook- 
lyn from  being  carried  downstream  by  the  strong  cur- 
rent, Captain  Craven  now  called  out>  "  Stand  by  the 
starboard  anchor ! "  and  it  seemed  for  a  moment  as  if  the 
ship  must  come  to  anchor  directly  under  the  guns  of 
both  forts,  where,  being  a  stationary  object,  her  de- 
struction would  be  a  question  of  a  very  few  minutes. 
The  blades  of  the  propeller  had  struck  some  hard  ob- 
ject in  passing  the  line  of  hulks,  but  after  a  pause  of  a 
few  minutes  the  engines  were  started,  and  again  the 
ship  moved  slowly  up  the  river.  The  Brooklyn  now 

1  Official  report  of  Captain  Craven. 


1862.  THE   BROOKLYN  AIDS  FARRAGUT.  341 

poured  shell  and  shrapnel  into  Fort  Jackson  as  fast  as 
the  guns  could  be  loaded,  receiving  a  heavy  fire  in  re- 
turn. About  this  time  a  shot  entered  the  port  of  gun 
No.  9  on  the  port  side,  and  at  the  same  moment  a  shell 
burst  directly  over  the  gun,  wounding  nine  men  and 
taking  off  the  first  captain's  head.  Acting  Midshipman 
Bartlett,  who  was  standing  amidships  between  the  star- 
board and  port  No.  10  guns,  was  struck  on  the  back  by 
a  splinter  and  thrown  down.  Quickly  regaining  his 
feet,  he  found  that  only  two  of  the  gun  crew  on  the  port 
side  were  standing.  The  first  loader  and  sponger  were 
leaning  against  the  side  of  the  ship,  while  the  rest  of 
the  men  were  lying  flat  on  the  deck,  one  of  them  direct- 
ly in  the  rear  of  the  gun.  As  the  gun  had  just  been 
loaded,  Bartlett  dragged  this  man  aside  so  as  to  be  clear 
of  the  recoil  and  fired  it.  On  the  discharge  of  the  gun 
the  men  got  up  and  returned  to  their  stations,  none  of 
them  having  been  seriously  injured.  "  The  captain  of 
the  gun  found  a  piece  of  shell  inside  his  cap,  which  did 
not  even  scratch  his  head ;  another  piece  went  through 
my  coat-sleeve."1 

While  the  Hartford  was  hard  aground,  exposed  to 
a  terrible  fire  from  both  Fort  Jackson  and  Fort  St. 
Philip,  as  already  narrated,  the  Brooklyn  passed  her. 
Captain  Craven  did  not  discover  the  peril  of  the  flag- 
ship until  he  had  the  Hartford  on  his  starboard  quar- 
ter. Taking  in  the  situation  at  a  glance,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  he  was  in  a  most  exposed  position 
himself,  he  promptly  gave  the  order  "One  bell ! "  (slow 
down),  and  a  moment  later  "  Two  bells  !  "  (stop),  in- 
tending to  remain  alongside  of  his  commanding  officer 
until  he  was  extricated  from  his  perilous  position.  The 
Brooklyn 's  bow  now  swung  around,  and  she  dropped 
down  to  a  position  where  she  was  on  a  line  between  the 
two  forts,  when  she  poured  in  a  terrific  fire  of  shell  and 
shrapnel  from  the  port  battery.  As  soon  as  the  enemy 

1  Lieut.  Bartlett.    Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  ii,  p.  03. 


342          PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

discovered  her  they  diverted  a  portion  of  their  fire  from 
the  flagship,  just  as  Captain  Craven  had  desired.  Had 
the  Confederates  aimed  more  accurately,  they  would 
have  blown  the  Brooklyn  out  of  water.  As  it  was, 
a  storm  of  shot,  shell  and  shrapnel  passed  just  over 
the  bulwarks  and  cut  the  rigging,  the  hammock  net- 
tings and  the  boats  all  to  pieces,  there  being  scarcely  a 
sound  rope  left  to  the  spars.  Craven  deliberately  kept 
his  ship  under  this  terrific  fire  until  he  saw  that  Farra- 
gut  was  free  from  the  fire-raft,  and  then  continued  on 
his  course  up  the  river. 

As  she  passed  within  a  hundred  feet  of  Fort  St. 
Philip  a  long  blaze  of  musketry  was  opened  on  her 
from  the  parapets.  One  of  the  bullets,  entering  the 
port  of  gun  No.  1,  struck  Lieutenant  James  O'Kane  in 
the  leg  ;  but  although  he  fell  to  the  deck  he  would  not 
allow  himself  to  be  carried  below  until  he  had  fired  two 
of  the  broadside  guns  with  his  own  hands.  Soon  after- 
ward a  shot  took  off  the  head  of  a  marine  who  was 
standing  on  the  starboard  quarter.  But  the  greatest 
carnage  had  taken  place  in  the  forward  division  of 
guns.  A  shell  exploded  near  the  powder  man  of  the 
pivot  gun,  literally  blowing  him  to  pieces,  and  parts  of 
his  body  were  scattered  all  over  the  forecastle.  The 
primer  of  the  gun  was  broken  off  at  the  vent,  disabling 
the  gun.  As  soon  as  possible  the  Brooklyn  responded 
to  this  fire  with  grape,  which  drove  the  Confederates  to 
shelter.  A  prisoner  afterward  remarked  that  "  the 
grape  came  in  like  rain,  but  the  worst  of  all  were  the 
infernal  lamp-posts  or  the  stands  that  held  the  grape. 
The  fort  was  full  of  them."  At  times  the  Brooklyn 
was  so  close  to  Fort  St.  Philip  that  the  flashes  of  the 
Confederate  cannon  scorched  the  faces  and  clothing  of 
the  ship's  gunners.  All  this  time  a  heroic  quartermas- 
ter, Thomas  Hollins,  stood  at  the  starboard  main  chains, 
undismayed  by  the  storm  around  him,  and  his  voice 
every  few  minutes  was  heard  above  the  din  of  battle, 
calmly  singing  out  the  varying  fathoms  of  water. 


1862.  THE  LOUISIANA  OPENS  FIRE.  343 

When  abreast  of  the  fort,  where  the  flashes  leaped  out 
of  the  enemy's  guns  and  seemed  almost  to  touch  him, 
he  coolly  called  out,  "Only  thirteen  feet,  sir ! "  On  ex- 
amining the  ship  after  the  battle,  it  was  found  that  her 
side  near  the  place  where  he  stood  was  peppered  with 
bullets. 

Just  as  Craven  was  clearing  Fort  St.  Philip  he 
caught  a  glimpse,  through  a  break  in  the  smoke,  of  the 
Louisiana.  The  National  commanders  had  little  or  no 
reliable  information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  ram,  but 
rumor  had  pictured  the  Louisiana  as  a  most  terrible 
monster,  and  with  a  feeling  that  they  had  met  their 
greatest  danger  they  drew  near  the  ironclad.  The 
Brooklyn  delivered  her  starboard  fire  of  solid  shot, 
which  could  be  distinctly  heard  striking  the  ram,  but 
they  glanced  harmlessly  upward.  Lieutenant  James 
McBaker,  of  the  Louisiana,  at  this  moment  was  stand- 
ing astride  two  beams  in  the  pilot  house  (the  floor  not 
yet  being  laid),  and  the  shock  caused  him  to  fall  to  the 
deck.  Captain  Mclntosh,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
Louisiana,  was  mortally  wounded  while  in  the  act  of 
throwing  a  fireball  at  a  National  vessel.  The  Louisi- 
ana fired  a  heavy  shell  that  struck  the  Brooklyn  about 
a  foot  above  the  water  line  on  the  starboard  &ide  of  the 
cutwater  near  the  wood  ends,  and,  forcing  its  way  three 
feet  into  the  dead  wood  and  timbers,  remained  there. 
Had  that  shell  exploded,  the  entire  bow  would  have 
been  blown  off  and  the  ship  would  have  gone  to  the 
bottom  in  a  few  minutes.  But  the  Confederates,  in 
their  haste  to  fire,  had  neglected  to  remove  the  lead 
patch  from  the  fuse. 

After  passing  the  ram  the  Brooklyn  swung  out 
into  the  middle  of  the  river  and  continued  on  her 
slow  course  against  the  current.  A  number  of  vessels 
could  now  be  made  out  through  the  smoke,  engaged  in 
a  desperate  struggle  at  close  quarters,  but  as  it  was  im- 
possible to  distinguish  between  friend  and  foe,  Captain 
Craven  refrained  from  firing.  A  few  minutes  later  the 


344        PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.  PHILIP.         1862. 

cry  ran  through  the  ship,  "A  steamer  coming  down  on 
our  port  bow  !  "  and  soon  they  saw  black  smoke  from 
the  double  smokestack  of  a  river  boat,  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  the  outlines  of  a  steamer  having  her  fore- 
castle crowded  with  men  as  if  in  readiness  to  board. 
The  order  "  Stand  by  to  repel  boarders  !  "  was  passed, 
the  guns  were  loaded  with  shrapnel  and  the  fuses  were 
cut  so  as  to  burn  one  second.  On  the  steamer  came  ; 
but  just  before  a  collision  took  place  the  Brooklyn  gave 
a  sheer  to  starboard,  and  as  the  steamer  passed  to  port 
the  broadside  guns  of  the  Brooklyn,  beginning  with 
the  forward  one,  were  discharged  one  after  another 
as  they  bore.  The  missiles  sped  with  fatal  precision, 
as  the  rush  of  steam  and  the  shrieks  and  yells  of  the 
injured  speedily  proclaimed.  The  shells  exploded  al- 
most on  leaving  the  guns,  and  when  it  came  time  for 
the  after  guns  in  the  Brooklyn  to  be  fired  the  steamer 
was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

Scarcely  had  this  enemy  been  disposed  of  when 
some  of  the  men  who  had  been  looking  out  of  the  ports 
saw  another  black  column  of  smoke  creeping  out  of  the 
night,  and  a  moment  later  the  cry  "The  ram  !  the  ram  ! " 
passed  through  the  ship.  "Four  bells!  [full  speed]. 
Put  your  helm  hard  a-starboard ! "  called  out  Craven. 
But  it  was  too  late,  for  in  a  moment  there  was  a  shock 
that  nearly  threw  the  men  off  their  feet.  The  Manas- 
sas  had  struck  the  Brooklyn  almost  at  right  angles  and 
nearly  amidships.  At  the  moment  of  striking  the  ram 
fired  her  gun.  The  shot,  piercing  the  chain  and  plank- 
ing on  the  starboard  side,  entered  the  berth  deck,  made 
its  way  through  the  pile  of  rigging  and  passed  into 
the  sand-bags  that  had  been  placed  around  the  steam 
drum.  The  chain  plating  was  driven  into  the  outer 
planking,  and  on  the  inside  the  planks  were  splintered 
and  crushed  for  about  five  feet,  and  had  it  not  been  for 
the  fact  that  her  bunkers  were  full  of  coal  she  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  sunk.  When  the  BrooTdyn 
went  to  sea  some  weeks  after  this,  the  rolling  of  the 


1862.  THE  MANASSAS  RAMS  THE  BROOKLYN.  345 

ship  caused  her  to  leak  so  seriously  that  she  was  com- 
pelled to  run  into  Pensacola,  where  a  large  patch  of 
planking  was  bolted  over  the  wound.  Mr.  Bartlett 
writes  :  "I  ran  to  the  No.  10  port,  the  gun  being  in, 
and,  looking  out,  saw  her  [the  ram]  almost  directly 
alongside.  A  man  came  out  of  the  little  hatch  aft  and 
ran  forward  along  the  port  side  of  the  deck  as  far  as 
the  smokestacks,  placed  his  hand  against  one  of  the 
funnels  and  looked  to  see  what  damage  the  ram  had 
done.  I  saw  him  turn,  fall  over  and  tumble  into  the 
water,  but  did  not  know  at  the  moment  what  caused  his 
sudden  disappearance  until  I  asked  the  quartermaster 
who  was  leadsman  in  the  chains,  if  he  had  seen  him  fall. 
'Why,  yes,  sir,'  he  said,  'I  saw  him  fall  overboard — in 
fact,  I  helped  him  ;  for  I  hit  him  alongside  of  the  head 
with  my  hand-lead.'" l  The  shock  of  the  collision  threw 
the  boilers  of  the  Manas sas  out  of  position  and  pre- 
vented her  from  repeating  the  attack  immediately.  As 
the  men  had  just  been  working  the  port  guns  and  the 
Manassas  came  up  suddenly  on  the  starboard  side, 
none  of  the  Brooklyn's  guns  could  be  fired  at  her, 
although  an  attempt  was  made  to  depress  the  muzzle 
of  the  30-pounder  Parrot.  The  Manassas  vanished  in 
the  night  as  suddenly  as  she  appeared. 

After  these  narrow  escapes  Captain  Craven  pressed 
on,  feeling  his  way  in  the  darkness  and  guiding  the  ship 
by  the  flashes  of  the  guns.  Finding  that  he  was  get- 
ting too  far  to  the  western  side,  he  headed  his  ship  for 
Fort  St.  Philip,  but  in  so  doing  exposed  himself  to  a 
terrible  raking  fire  from  Fort  Jackson.  At  this  mo- 
ment a  large  three-masted  steamer  loomed  out  of  the 
smoke  and  opened  fire.  Waiting  until  his  entire  port 
broadside  bore,  Captain  Craven  fired  eleven  9-inch 
guns,  which  sent  the  stranger  down  the  river  in  flames. 
Pushing  carefully  across  the  river  until  the  starboard 
lead  showed  thirteen  feet,  Captain  Craven  headed  up- 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  ii,  p.  67. 


346         PASSING   FORTS  JACKSON   AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

stream,  and  again  brought  his  broadside  to  bear  on 
Fort  St.  Philip.  A  torrent  of  grape  and  canister  was 
then  poured  into  that  work  and  completely  silenced  it. 
By  the  flashes  of  the  guns  the  enemy  could  be  seen 
running  to  cover.  After  passing  out  of  range  of  the 
forts  the  Brooklyn  destroyed  several  gunboats.  She 
had  now  been  under  fire  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  and 
had  eight  men  killed  and  twenty-six  wounded. 

The  Richmond,  Commander  James  Alden,  the  third 
vessel  of  the  second  division,  passed  up  with  less  diffi- 
culty. Like  the  others,  she  got  out  of  line  soon  after 
starting,  and  was  carried  close  to  Fort  Jackson  at  a 
time  when  the  guns  in  that  fort  were  nearly  silenced  by 
the  fire  from  the  mortars  and  their  tenders.  Her  loss 
was  two  killed  and  four  wounded.  Much  injury  to  the 
men  was  saved  by  a  carefully  prepared  splinter-netting. 
At  one  point  between  the  guns  the  netting  was  forced 
out  to  its  utmost  tension  ;  "indeed,"  says  Commander 
Alden,  "large  pieces  of  plank  were  thus  prevented 
from  sweeping  the  deck  and  perhaps  destroying  the 
men  at  the  guns." 

Commander  Bell,  leading  the  third  division  in  the 
Sciota,  got  under  fire  a  little  before  4  A.  M.  and  passed 
the  forts  with  slight  damage.  Following  him  came  the 
Iroquois,  Commander  Decamp,  which  hotly  engaged 
the  forts.  Shortly  afterward  she  was  attacked  by  the 
McRae  and  another  war  vessel,  which,  coming  up  on 
her  quarter  and  stern,  poured  in  a  destructive  fire  of 
grape,  copper  slugs  and  langrage.  One  11 -inch  shell 
and  a  stand  of  canister,  skillfully  aimed,  drove  off  the 
McRae  and  mortally  wounded  her  commander,  Lieu- 
tenant Huger.  Huger  was  serving  in  the  Iroquois  when 
he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  United  States  navy. 
The  command  of  his  vessel  then  fell  upon  Lieutenant 
Read,  who  fought  his  ship  gallantly  to  the  end.  The 
Iroquois,  although  passing  within  fifty  yards  of  Fort 
Jackson,  received  no  injury  from  that  work,  but  suf- 
fered severely  from  the  raking  fire  of  Fort  St.  Philip. 


1802.  BELL  LEADS  THE  THIRD  DIVISION.  347 

Through  a  misunderstanding  of  the  order  "  Starboard  ! " 
as  "  Stop  her ! "  the  Iroquois  was  carried  close  alongside 
the  Louisiana.  Half  of  the  Confederate  crew,  sup- 
posing that  an  attempt  at  boarding  was  to  be  made,  ran 
outside  of  her  casemate  to  repel  boarders,  and  the  Lou- 
isiana double-shotted  her  guns  and  delivered  a  heavy 
fire  at  the  Iroquois.  After  getting  beyond  the  line  of 
fire  of  the  forts,  the  Iroquois  was  attacked  by  five  or 
six  steamers,  but  as  she  brought  her  broadsides  into 
play  they  were  sent  down  the  stream  in  a  crippled  con- 
dition. Four  miles  above  this  point  Commander  De- 
camp captured  gunboat  No.  3,  which  was  armed  with 
one  24-pounder  howitzer  and  was  well  supplied  with 
fixed  ammunition  and  small  arms.  Lieutenant  Hen- 
derson, with  four  hundred  and  thirty  soldiers,  also  was 
captured.  In  passing  the  forts  the  Iroquois  was  badly 
injured  in  her  hull,  her  bowsprit  and  jib  boom  were 
struck  by  heavy  shot,  and  all  the  boats  were  smashed 
to  pieces.  Her  loss  was  eight  killed  and  twenty-four 
wounded. 

The  Winona  took  her  station  astern  of  the  Itasca, 
and  was  following  her  red  light  when  she  became  en- 
tangled in  a  mass  of  logs  and  driftwood  held  together 
by  chains  in  the  moorings  of  the  hulks.  While  en- 
deavoring to  back  clear  of  this,  she  fouled  her  consort 
on  the  starboard  bow,  causing  a  delay  of  nearly  half 
an  hour.  Although  the  larger  part  of  the  fleet  by  this 
time  had  passed  the  forts,  Lieutenant  Nichols  pushed 
ahead.  But  day  was  fast  breaking,  and  by  the  time 
the  Winona  had  passed  the  obstruction  she  stood  out  in 
bold  relief  against  the  bright  sky,  presenting  a  fair  mark 
to  the  enemy's  gunners.  Fort  Jackson  opened  on  her, 
and  the  first  shot  killed  one  man  and  wounded  another, 
while  the  third  and  fourth  shot  killed  or  wounded 
all  the  men  of  the  30- pounder  except  one.  In  spite  of 
this  disastrous  fire,  Lieutenant  Nichols  pressed  on  to 
Fort  St.  Philip  ;  but  his  vessel  and  the  Itasca  soon  be- 
came the  center  of  such  a  terrific  fire  that  Commander 


348         PASSING  FORTS  JACKSON  AND  ST.   PHILIP.         1862. 

Porter  signaled  them  to  retire.  The  Winona  had  three 
killed  and  had  five  wounded,  while  she  had  been 
"hulled  several  times,  and  the  decks  were  wet  fore 
and  aft  from  the  spray  of  the  falling  shot."1  The 
Itasca  received  fourteen  shot,  one  in  her  boiler,  and 
was  so  injured  that  Lieutenant  Caldwell  ran  her  ashore 
below  the  mortar  boat  to  prevent  sinking.  The  Kenne- 
bec  also  failed  to  pass  the  forts.  The  Pinola,  which 
was  in  line  astern  of  the  Iroquois,  had  her  starboard 
quarter  boat  crushed  by  a  chain  on  the  hulks.  When 
abreast  of  Fort  Jackson,  Lieutenant  Crosby  opened 
with  his  11 -inch  Dahlgren  and  Parrott  guns,  the  flashes 
of  the  Confederate  guns  being  the  only  mark  presented 
to  the  gunners.  The  enemy  promptly  replied,  but, 
miscalculating  the  distance,  sent  most  of  his  shot  over 
the  Pinola,  so  that  only  two  of  them  struck  her  hull. 

Lieutenant  Crosby  then  ran  within  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  of  Fort  St.  Philip,  where  the  fire-rafts 
exposed  his  vessel  to  the  enemy's  view.  The  Confed- 
erates opened  a  heavy  fire,  and  one  shot,  entering  her 
starboard  quarter,  cut  away  part  of  the  wheel  and 
wounded  several  men,  including  Quartermaster  Wil- 
liam Ackworth.  Another  shot  entered  the  hull  at  the 
water  line  on  the  starboard  side,  eight  inches  forward 
of  the  boiler,  passed  through  the  coal-bunkers,  cut  the 
sounding-well  in  two,  and  lodged  in  the  pump-well. 
A  third  shot  cut  away  the  top  of  the  steam-escape 
pipe,  and  the  starboard  chain  cable  from  the  anchor, 
while  another  passed  entirely  through  the  hull  imme- 
diately over  the  magazine.  After  these  narrow  escapes 
the  Pinola  passed  beyond  the  line  of  fire,  and  in  the 
early  dawn  sighted  a  steamer  which  was  thought  to 
be  the  Iroquois.  Discovering  her  to  be  the  Governor 
Moore,  however,  Lieutenant  Crosby  gave  her  a  shot 
from  his  11 -inch  Dahlgren  and  Parrott  guns,  both  of 
which  took  effect  near  the  water  line.  At  this  moment 

1  Official  report  of  Lieutenant  Nichols. 


1862.  AT  THE  END   OF  THE  LINE.  349 

the  dark  hull  of  the  Manassas  was  discovered  in  the 
Pinola's  wake,  coming  up  the  river  under  a  full  head 
of  steam.  Lieutenant  Crosby  immediately  opened  on 
the  dangerous  ram,  but  before  he  could  come  to  close 
quarters  the  Mississippi  dashed  past  for  the  purpose 
of  running  into  the  iron  craft.  Just  as  all  were  ex- 
pecting to  see  the  Manassas  crushed,  she  sheered  to 
one  side  and  ran  ashore,  where  her  crew  escaped.  The 
Mississippi,  balked  of  her  prey,  checked  her  swift 
course  down-stream,  ran  up  to  the  ram,  and  riddled 
her  with  shot. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Cayuga  reached 
the  Confederate  batteries  at  Chalmette,  where,  after  an 
exchange  of  shot,  the  regiment  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Szymanaski  surrendered  to  Captain  Bailey. 
Farragut's  fleet  did  not  anchor  off  New  Orleans  until 
one  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  April  25th.  New  Or- 
leans was  surrendered  on  the  29th,  Forts  Jackson  and 
St.  Philip  having  surrendered  the  day  before.  The 
total  loss  in  the  National  fleet  was  thirty-seven  killed 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  wounded,  while  that 
of  the  Confederate  land  forces  was  twelve  killed  and 
forty  wounded.  The  loss  in  the  Confederate  flotilla 
can  not  be  accurately  determined,  but  it  must  have 
been  equal  to  that  of  the  Nationalists. 


CHAPTER  XL 

OPERATIONS   ON   WESTERN   RIVERS. 

DRIVEN  from  one  stronghold  after  another  by  the 
National  gunboats  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  com- 
pelled by  the  genius  of  Farragut  to  abandon  New  Or- 
leans, Baton  Rouge  and  Natchez  on  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi, the  Confederates  gradually  concentrated  around 
Vicksburg.  By  the  time  the  National  forces  were  ready 
to  make  a  serious  demonstration  against  this  place, 
many  of  the  troops,  guns  and  munitions  of  war  that 
had  been  scattered  over  the  Western  States  of  the  Con- 
federacy were  massed  at  Vicksburg,  so  that  it  became 
one  of  the  most  formidable  strongholds  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  Confederates 
were  growing  stronger  by  concentration  after  each  de- 
feat, the  Nationalists  were  becoming  weaker  as  their 
forces  were  spread  over  a  larger  territory  and  they 
were  required  to  guard  many  points  on  the  river  and 
the  Gulf.  Besides  this,  Farragut's  vessels,  which  had 
not  been  designed  for  river  service,  were  greatly  in 
need  of  repairs.  The  many  collisions  between  vessels 
of  the  same  squadron,  caused  by  the  swift  current  in 
narrow  waters,  their  frequent  grounding  on  shoals,  and 
the  heavy  impact  of  enormous  logs  carried  down  stream 
in  the  swift  current,  strained  the  hulls  and  perceptibly 
weakened  the  ships.  The  constant  exposure  to  the 
enemy's  shot  and  the  wear  and  tear  on  the  engines, 
many  of  which  were  old  and  built  for  lighter  service, 
also  were  beginning  to  be  felt. 

The  great  difficulty  of  patroling  such  a  vast  and 
intricate  river  system  in  the  heart  of  an  enemy's  coun- 

350 


1862.  FARRAGUT'S  GREAT  TASK.  35^ 

try  was  further  enhanced  by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
a  coal-supply.  The  towing  and  guarding  of  coal-ves- 
sels over  a  distance  of  many  hundred  miles  against  a 
swift  current,  with  the  men  constantly  exposed  to 
sharpshooters  and  the  sudden  fire  of  masked  batteries, 
was  in  itself  a  work  of  appalling  magnitude.  But  one 
of  the  most  serious  tasks  which  the  commanders  of 
both  the  lower  and  the  upper  Mississippi  fleets  had  to 
perform  was  to  guard  the  health  of  their  men,  most  of 
whom  were  from  the  North  and,  being  unaccustomed 
to  the  peculiar  climate  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  fell 
easy  victims  to  disease.  On  the  25th  of  July  nearly 
half  of  the  men  in  the  upper  flotilla  were  reported 
unfit  for  duty  and  there  was  nearly  as  much  illness 
among  Farragut's  crews.  The  time  of  enlistment  for 
many  of  the  men  had  expired,  and  much  difficulty  was 
experienced  in  keeping  the  complements  of  the  vessels 
even  partially  filled.  As  it  was,  several  of  the  Na- 
tional craft  went  into  action  short-handed. 

Notwithstanding  these  serious  obstacles,  Farragut 
determined  to  push  his  advantage.  Personally  he  be- 
lieved it  to  be  impossible  to  hold  the  points  along  the 
river  and  attack  Vicksburg  with  any  hope  of  perma- 
nent success  without  the  co-operation  of  a  strong  land 
force.  He  wrote  to  the  Navy  Department :  "The  Gov- 
ernment officials  appear  to  think  we  can  do  anything. 
They  expect  me  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  nine  hun- 
dred miles,  in  the  face  of  batteries,  ironclad  rams,  etc. ; 
and  yet,  with  all  the  ironclad  vessels  they  have  North, 
they  could  not  get  to  Norfolk  or  Richmond.  The  iron- 
clads, with  the  exception  of  the  Monitor,  were  all 
knocked  to  pieces.  Yet  I  am  expected  to  take  New 
Orleans,  and  go  up  and  release  Foote  from  his  perilous 
situation  at  Fort  Pillow,  when  he  is  backed  by  the 
army  and  has  ironclad  boats  built  for  the  river  service, 
while  our  ships  are  in  danger  of  getting  aground  and 
remaining  there  till  next  year  ;  or,  what  is  more  likely, 
be  burned  to  prevent  them  from  falling  into  the  enemy's 


352  OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS.  1862. 

hands."  But  he  had  received  peremptory  orders  from 
Washington  to  "clear  the  Mississippi,"  and,  like  the 
true  seaman  he  was,  he  gallantly  proceeded  to  obey. 

Seeing  that  New  Orleans  was  securely  in  the  hands 
of  the  army,  Farragut  ordered  the  Brooklyn,  Captain 
Thomas  Tingey  Craven,  up  the  river.  Baton  Rouge  and 
Natchez  surrendered  without  opposition.  On  the  22d 
of  May  Commander  Samuel  Phillips  Lee  summoned 
Vicksburg  to  surrender,  but  was  met  with  a  prompt 
refusal,  while  the  attack  on  the  gunboats  WissaJdckon 
and  Itasca  on  June  9th,  by  a  battery  of  rifled  guns  that 
the  enemy  had  hastily  thrown  up  at  Grand  Gulf,  plain- 
ly indicated  that  the  Confederates  had  not  yet  given 
up  the  fight,  and  showed  how  easily  they  could  erect 
batteries  on  almost  any  commanding  point  along  the 
river  and  make  it  dangerous  for  vessels  to  pass.  The 
Brooklyn  and  the  RicJimond  anchored  below  Vicks- 
burg on  the  18th  of  June,  and  soon  afterward  Farragut 
with  his  other  ships  and  the  mortar  steamers  Octorara, 
Miami,  Jackson,  Westfield,  Clifton,  Harriet  Lane  and 
Owasco,  and  seventeen  mortar  schooners  under  Com- 
mander Porter,  arrived,  and  on  the  26th  the  mortars 
began  shelling  the  works. 

The  promptness  of  Farragut' s  attack  prevented  the 
enemy  from  fortifying  Vicksburg  as  well  as  they  did  a 
few  months  later,  but  as  it  was,  its  defenses  were  for- 
midable. They  consisted  of  one  9-inch  and  three  8-inch 
guns,  and  one  18-pounder  rifled  gun  mounted  in  a  bat- 
tery on  the  highest  point  of  the  bluff  above  the  town, 
where  they  could  deliver  a  plunging  fire  and  where  the 
guns  in  the  vessels  could  not  reach  them.  Near  by  was 
a  battery  of  four  24-pounders,  two  of  them  rifled,  and 
half  a  mile  below  the  town  was  a  water-battery  mount- 
ing four  42-pounders  and  two  rifled  32-pounders,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Todd,  a  brother-in-law  of  President 
Lincoln.  Besides  these  batteries,  there  were  two  10- 
inch  and  one  8-inch,  one  42-pounder,  five  32-pounders, 
and  two  rifled  12-pounders  along  the  bluff  where  it 


18G2.  FARRAGUT   RUNS  BY  VICKSBURG.  353 

would  be  difficult  for  a  passing  vessel  to  discover  them. 
These  guns  were  spread  over  a  distance  of  three  miles. 
The  current  of  the  river  at  this  place  ran  at  least  three 
miles  an  hour. 

At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  June  28th  Far- 
ragut  got  under  way  with  the  intention  of  running  the 
batteries,  as  he  had  done  with  such  astonishing  suc- 
cess at  New  Orleans.  He  arranged  his  squadron  in 
two  columns,  the  Richmond,  the  Hartford  and  the 
Brooklyn  forming  the  starboard  line,  or  that  nearest 
to  the  enemy,  while  the  port  column  consisted  of  the 
Iroquois,  Commander  James  Shedden  Palmer,  and  the 
Oneida,  which  were  to  steam  ahead  of  the  Richmond 
and  keep  off  her  port  bow  ;  the  Wissahickon  and  the 
Sciota,  which  were  to  take  a  position  between  the 
Richmond  and  the  Hartford ;  the  Winona  and  the 
Pinola,  between  the  Hartford  and  the  Brooklyn  ;  and 
the  Kennebec  and  the  Katalidin,  taking  a  position  on 
the  port  quarter  of  the  Brooklyn.  As  these  vessels 
drew  in  range  about  4  A.  M.  the  mortar  flotilla  opened 
a  heavy  fire,  while  the  mortar  steamers  moved  up  the 
river  on  the  Hartford's  starboard  quarter,  and,  taking 
a  position  about  fourteen  hundred  yards  from  the 
water-battery,  kept  up  a  spirited  fire  until  the  ves- 
sels were  beyond  the  reach  of  the  enemy's  guns.  As 
the  two  columns  came  within  range  they  suffered 
from  a  severe  plunging  and  raking  fire,  but  when 
fairly  abreast  of  the  enemy  they  silenced  the  lower 
batteries. 

Observing  that  he  wai  getting  too  far  in  advance  of 
his  vessels,  Farragut  gave  the  order  to  slow  down,  and 
at  times  he  came  to  a  full  stop,  so  as  to  keep  as  com- 
pact a  line  as  possible  and  to  give  the  vessels  the  ad- 
vantage of  mutual  support.  Commander  Palmer,  of  the 
Iroquois,  when  he  reached  the  sharp  bend  in  the  river 
above  the  town,  stopped  his  engines  and  drifted  down 
within  supporting  distance  of  the  flagship.  Not  under- 
standing Palmer's  object,  Farragut  called  out  through 


354 


OPERATIONS  ON   WESTERN  RIVERS. 


1862. 


his  trumpet,  "Captain  Palmer,  what  do  you  mean  by 
disobeying  my  orders ? "  Palmer  replied  :  "I  thought 
that  you  had  more  fire  than  you  could  stand,  and  so  I 
came  down  to  draw  off  a  part  of  it."  Farragut  never 
forgot  the  incident.  By  6  A.  M.  all  the  vessels  had 
passed  and  anchored  above  Vicksburg  except  three. 
The  Brooklyn,  the  Kennebec  and  the  Katahdin,  which 
brought  up  the  rear  of  the  National  line,  through  a 
misunderstanding,  remained  two  hours  before  the  bat- 
teries and  then  retired  below.  In  this  affair  the  loss  in 
the  fleet  was  seven  killed  and  thirty  wounded.  The 
Clifton  received  a  shot  in  her  boiler  and  eight  men 
were  killed  by  the  escaping  steam,  making  fifteen  men 
in  all  killed.  The  Confederates  reported  no  losses. 

On  the  1st  of  July  Farragut's  vessels  joined  the 
flotilla  under  Captain  Charles  H.  Davis,  and  the  com- 
bined fleets  took  a  position  above  Vicksburg,  about 
three  miles  below  the  point  where  the  Yazoo  River 
flows  into  the  Mississippi,  the  war  vessels  being  moored 
on  the  eastern  bank  and  the  transports  on  the  western. 
Learning  that  the  Confederates  were  completing  the 
ram  Arkansas,  up  Yazoo  River,  Captain  Davis,  on  the 
14th  of  July,  ordered  the  Carondelet,  Captain  Henry 
Walke,  the  Tyler,  Lieutenant-Commander  William 
Gwin,1  and  the  steam  ram  Queen  of  the  West,  Colonel 
Ellet,  having  sharpshooters  aboard,  to  ascend  the  Yazoo 
and  reconnoiter.  The  Arkansas  was  one  of  two  rams 
that  were  being  built  to  destroy  the  National  flotilla 
in  the  Mississippi  River.  These  rams,  not  quite  com- 
pleted, were  at  Memphis,  and  were  nearly  captured  in 
the  battle  of  Memphis.  As  it  was,  one  of  them,  the 
Tennessee,  was  burned,  while  the  Arkansas  just  es- 
caped and  was  taken  up  the  Yazoo  ;  showing  how 
valuable  were  the  prompt  and  decisive  movements  of 
the  Union  gunboats.  In  constructing  these  boats  the 
Confederates  experienced  their  usual  difficulty  in  build- 


1  These  officers  received  their  new  ranks  July  16,  1862. 


1862.  THE  RAM  ARKANSAS.  355 

ing  ironclads.  The  country  was  scoured  for  miles  for 
iron,  worn-out  railroad  tracks  forming  a  part  of  the 
casemate.  When  the  Arkansas  went  into  action  she 
was  manned  by  inexperienced  men,  whose  hands  were 
blistered  and  bleeding  from  the  little  exercise  they  had 
undergone  in  hauling  on  the  gun  tackles.  The  Arkan- 
sas was  constructed  for  a  seagoing  ship  after  the 
general  plan  of  the  Merrimac,  being  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  over  all,  and  armed  with  two  8-inch  colum- 
biads,  four  6 '4-inch  rifled  guns,  two  82- pounders  and 
two  9-inch  Dahlgren  shell  guns.  Her  heavy  wooden 
casemate,  which  on  the  sides  was  perpendicular,  was 
inclined  at  the  bow  and  stern,  and  was  protected  by 
railroad  iron  laid  in  horizontal  courses,  dovetailed  and 
forming  a  nearly  solid  mass  of  iron  three  inches  thick. 
In  the  casemate  between  the  ports  were  bales  of  com- 
pressed cotton  sheathed  in  wood  so  as  to  guard  against 
fire.  Her  bow  was  armed  with  a  sharp  cast-iron  beak. 
The  vessel  had  twin  screws  but  her  engines,  which 
were  below  the  water  line,  wrere  too  light  for  her  and 
frequently  broke  down.  Her  captain  was  Commander 
Isaac  Napoleon  Brown,  formerly  of  the  United  States 
Navy. 

Captain  Walke's  vessels  got  under  way  at  4  A.  M. 
July  15th.  "All  was  calm,  bright  and  beautiful.  The 
majestic  forest  echoed  with  the  sweet  warbling  of  its 
wild  birds,  and  its  dewy  leaves  sparkled  in  the  sun- 
beams. All  seemed  inviting  the  mind  to  peaceful  re- 
flection and  to  stimulate  it  with  hopes  of  future  hap- 
piness at  home."  *  There  had  not  been  the  slightest 
intimation  that  the  Arkansas  was  expected.  Suddenly, 
when  the  National  gunboats  had  proceeded  about  six 
miles  up  the  Yazoo,  they  met  the  ironclacj  coming 
down  under  a  full  head  of  steam.  At  this  moment  the 
Tyler  was  about  one  mile  and  the  Queen  of  the  West 
two  miles  in  advance  of  the  Carondelet,  and  being  un- 

1  Bear-Admiral  Walke's  Naval  Scenes,  p.  304. 


356 


OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS. 


1802. 


fit  for  a  battle  with  a  vessel  of  this  type,  the  Tyler 
gave  the  alarm  and  retreated.     Captain  Walke,  realiz- 


SCZNEOFTHB 
NAVAL  OPERATIONS 

IN  THE 

WESTERN  KIVEBS. 


0  '     *  T'^1 


ing  the  hopelessness  of  a  struggle  between  his  vessels 
and  a  craft  of  the  Merrimac  class,  and  having  so 


1862.          THE  CARONDELET  AND  THE  ARKANSAS.  357 

many  of  his  men  prostrated  by  the  river  fever  that 
he  could  not  man  more  than  one  division  of  guns,  de- 
cided to  fall  back  on  the  fleet.  It  would  have  been  cer- 
tain destruction  for  the  Carondelet  to  have  continued 
up  the  river,  for  by  so  doing  she  presented  her  square 
bow  as  a  broad  target  to  the  Arkansas '$  ram,  and  would 
easily  have  been  cut  down  and  sunk. 

Walke's  only  course  was  to  retreat.  The  stern  of 
his  vessel  had  recently  been  strengthened  with  fenders 
and  barricades,  but  it  had  the  weakest  battery.  The 
Queen  of  the  West  opened  a  brisk  lire  on  the  ram  and 
then  fled  down  the  river  to  give  the  alarm,  while  the 
Tyler,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was  filled  with  troops 
who  were  exposed  on  her  decks,  pluckily  kept  her 
place  beside  her  consort,  and  the  two  vessels  opened  as 
heavy  a  fire  at  a  distance  of  five  hundred  to  fifty  yards 
as  they  could  against  their  advancing  foe.  One  of 
their  shot  struck  the  Arkansas'  pilot-house,  mortally 
wounding  Chief  Pilot  John  Hodges  (who  was  looking 
through  the  peephole)  and  injuring  Commander  Brown 
and  the  Yazoo  River  pilot,  J.  H.  Shacklett,  with  splin- 
ters. Commander  Brown  had  a  severe  contusion  on 
the  top  of  his  head,  and  soon  afterward  a  musket  shot 
grazed  his  left  temple.  He  fell  insensible  through  the 
hatchway  to  the  deck  below.  But  in  spite  of  this  seri- 
ous loss  the  Confederate  ironclad  kept  steadily  on  her 
course,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  boarding  the 
Carondelet.  As  the  distance  between  the  two  vessels 
diminished,  Captain  Walke,  who  was  constantly  on 
deck,  called  his  men  to  repel  boarders.  The  Confed- 
erates did  not  make  the  attempt  to  board,  however, 
and  the  Nationalists  returned  to  their  guns.  The 
Carondelet,  then  passing  an  island,  crowded  the  ram 
to  the  northern  bank  of  the  river,  and  the  Arkansas 
gradually  forged  ahead,  when  the  Carondelet  fired  her 
bow  guns  at  the  ram,  but  having  her  wheel-rope  cut 
away  for  the  third  time  she  ran  aground.  At  one  time 
the  colors  of  the  Carondelet  became  entangled  with  the 


358  OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS.  18C2. 

staff,  and  one  of  the  men  was  trying  to  release  it.  Ob- 
serving the  man,  but  not  immediately  understanding 
his  object,  Captain  Walke,  as  he  came  from  his  bow 
guns,  called  out,  "I'll  shoot  the  first  man  that  lowers 
that  flag."  It  probably  was  this  circumstance  that  led 
Commander  Brown  to  think  that  the  National  gunboat 
lowered  her  colors.  The  CarondeleVs  flag  was  not  low- 
ered. 

The  Arkansas,  with  her  colors  shot  away  and 
smokestack  damaged,  continued  down  the  river  in 
chase  of  the  Tyler,  which  vessel,  although  suffering 
heavy  losses,  kept  up  the  heroic  fight.  The  Carondelet 
received  injuries  in  her  hull  and  machinery.  Thirteen 
shot  went  through  her.  The  crew  of  the  Carondelet 
saw  a  man  thrown  overboard  from  the  ram,  whose  peo- 
ple also  were  seen  to  be  bailing.  This  man  had  reck- 
lessly thrust  his  head  out  of  a  porthole  and  was  cut  in 
two  by  a  cannon  ball.  His  head  and  shoulders  fell 
into  the  river  and  his  legs  and  body  were  immediately 
thrown  after  them.  At  the  time  of  this  battle  two  of 
the  Carondelefs  84-pounder  rifled  guns  had  been  re- 
placed by  a  50-  and  a  30-pounder  rifled  gun.  Walke 
and  Brown  were  old  friends,  having  been  messmates  in 
a  voyage  around  the  world.  They  had  not  met  since 
that  voyage,  and  were  not  aware  of  each  other's  pres- 
ence until  after  the  battle. 

So  unexpected  was  the  approach  of  the  ram  that 
the  only  vessel  in  the  National  fleet  that  had  steam  up 
ready  for  immediate  action  was  the  General  Bragg. 
As  the  Arkansas  entered  the  Mississippi  she  turned 
her  head  downstream  with  the  intention  of  running 
through  the  National  fleet  and  reaching  the  batteries 
at  Yicksburg.  By  this  time  her  smokestack  had  been 
riddled  and  her  steam  had  gone  down  so  that  she 
could  make  only  one  mile  an  hour,  and  this  with  the 
current  gave  her  a  speed  of  about  three  miles  an  hour. 
On  went  the  ironclad,  firing  from  her  bow  guns  as  rap- 
idly as  possible,  to  which  the  National  vessels  responded 


1862.  THE  ARKANSAS  RUNS  THE  GANTLET.  359 

with  a  terrific  fire,  but  most  of  their  missiles  fell  harm- 
lessly from  the  mailed  sides.  Two  11-inch  shells, 
however,  pierced  her  armor,  exploded,  and  one  of  them 
killed  or  wounded  sixteen  of  her  people,  besides  set- 
ting fire  to  the  cotton  backing.  Few  of  the  vessels 
were  able  to  fire  at  the  ram  more  than  one  or  two 
broadsides.  Many  of  the  guns  were  fired  at  close  quar- 
ters, but  most  of  the  solid  shot  glanced  off  the  case- 
mate, while  the  shells  were  shivered  into  a  thousand 
pieces  by  the  concussion. 

An  officer  in  the  Arkansas,  describing  the  running 
of  the  gantlet,  says:  "We  were  passing  one  of  the 
large  sloops  of  war  when  a  heavy  shot  struck  the  side 
abreast  of  my  bow  gun,  the  concussion  knocking  over 
a  man  who  was  engaged  in  taking  a  shot  from  the  rack. 
He  rubbed  his  hip,  which  had  been  hurt,  and  said, 
'they  would  hardly  strike  twice  in  a  place.'  He  was 
mistaken,  poor  fellow !  for  immediately  a  shell  entered 
the  breach  made  by  the  shot  and,  imbedding  itself  in 
the  cotton  lining  of  the  inside  bulwark  proper,  exploded 
with  terrible  effect.  I  found  myself  standing  in  a  dense, 
suffocating  smoke,  with  my  cap  gone  and  hair  and 
beard  singed.  The  smoke  soon  cleared  away,  and  I 
found  but  one  man  (Quartermaster  Curtis)  left.  Six- 
teen were  killed  and  wounded  by  that  shell,  and  the 
ship  set  on  fire.  Stevens,  ever  cool  and  thoughtful, 
ran  to  the  engine-room  hatch,  seized  the  hose,  and 
dragged  it  to  the  aperture.  In  a  few  moments  the  fire 
was  extinguished  without  an  alarm  having  been  cre- 
ated. The  columbiad  was  fired  but  once  after  its  crew 
was  disabled.  By  the  aid  of  an  army  captain,  Curtis 
and  myself  succeeded  in  getting  a  shot  down  the  gun, 
with  which  he  struck  the  Benton.  The  ill  luck  which 
befell  the  crew  of  the  bow  gun  was  soon  to  be  followed 
by  a  similar  misfortune  to  the  crew  of  my  broadside 
gun.  An  11-inch  shot  broke  through  immediately 
above  the  port,  bringing  with  it  a  shower  of  iron  and 
wooden  splinters,  which  struck  down  every  man  at  a 


360  OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS.  1862. 

gun.  My  master's  mate,  Mr.  Wilson,  was  painfully 
wounded  in  the  nose,  and  I  had  my  left  arm  smashed. 
Curtis  was  the  only  sound  man  in  the  division  when 
we  mustered  the  crew  to  quarters  at  Vicksburg.  Nor 
did  the  mischief  of  the  last  shot  end  with  my  poor 
gun's  crew.  It  passed  across  the  deck,  through  the 
smokestack,  and  killed  eight  and  wounded  seven  men 
at  Scales's  gun.  Fortunately,  he  was  untouched  him- 
self, and  afterward  did  excellent  service  at  Grimball's 
columbiad. 

"  Stationed  on  the  ladder  leading  to  the  berth  deck 
was  a  quartermaster  named  Eaton.  He  was  assigned 
the  duty  of  passing  shells  from  the  forward  shell  room, 
and  also  had  a  kind  of  superintendence  over  the  boys 
who  came  for  powder.  Eaton  was  a  character.  He 
had  thick,  rough,  red  hair,  an  immense  muscular  frame, 
and  a  will  and  a  courage  rarely  encountered.  Nothing 
daunted  him,  and  the  hotter  the  fight,  the  fiercer  grew 
Eaton.  From  his  one  eye  he  glared  furiously  on  all 
who  seemed  inclined  to  shirk,  and  his  voice  grew  louder 
and  more  distinct  as  the  shot  rattled  and  crashed  upon 
our  mail.  At  one  instant  you  would  hear  him  pass  the 
word  down  the  hatch,  '9-inch  shell,  5-second  fuse. 
— Here  you  are,  my  lad,  with  your  rifled  shell;  take 
it  and  go  back,  quick.— What's  the  matter  that  you 
can't  get  that  gun  out?'  and,  like  a  cat,  he  would 
spring  from  his  place  and  throw  his  weight  on  the  side 
tackle,  and  the  gun  was  sure  to  go  out.  '  What  are 
you  doing  here— wounded  1  Where  are  you  hurt  3  Go 
back  to  your  gun,  or  I'll  murder  you  on  the  spot ! 
— Here's  your  9-inch  shell.— Mind,  shipmate'  (to  a 
wounded  man),  '  the  ladder  is  bloody ;  don't  slip ;  let 
me  help  you.' " 

While  the  Arkansas  was  running  the  terrible  gant- 
let her  colors,  which  had  been  hoisted  a  second  time, 
were  carried  away  again.  Midshipman  Dabney  M. 
Scales  hastened  out  on  the  casemate,  where  he  was  ex- 
posed to  as  terrific  a  fire  as  was  ever  concentrated  on 


1862.  RAMMING  THE  ARKANSAS.  3d 

one  ship,  and  bravely  hoisted  the  Confederate  colors. 
The  flag  of  the  Arkansas  was  again  carried  away,  and 
young  Scales  was  about  to  replace  it  for  the  second 
time  when  his  superior  officer  ordered  him  back.  After 
each  discharge  the  Arkansas  closed  her  ports,  thus 
presenting  an  almost  impenetrable  mass  of  iron.  One 
port  was  left  open  for  an  instant,  and  a  shot  entering 
killed  and  wounded  a  number  of  men.  Had  the  Arkan- 
sas been  subjected  to  this  fire  any  length  of  time  she 
would  have  been  destroyed ;  but  as  the  vessels  of  the 
squadron  were  unable  to  follow  her,  she  passed  them 
in  a  short  time  and  was  moored  under  the  Yicksburg 
batteries.  Commander  Brown  afterward  said  that  wrhen 
he  saw  the  National  fleet  he  had  no  hope  of  seeing 
Vicksburg.  That  belief  was  shared  by  many  of  his 
officers.  An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Lancaster  to 
ram,  but  she  was  disabled  by  a  shot,  and  escaping 
steam  scalded  a  number  of  her  people,  two  of  them 
fatally. 

Determined  that  the  audacious  ram  should  not  get 
off  thus  easily,  Farragut  immediately  began  prepara- 
tions for  following  and  destroying  her  under  the  guns 
of  Yicksburg,  his  plan  being  to  have  each  of  his  vessels 
fire  at  the  Arkansas  as  they  passed.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon Captain  Davis  moved  his  flotilla  down  and  began 
a  bombardment  of  the  upper  batteries  by  way  of  a 
diversion,  and  at  dark  Farragut's  fleet,  with  the  ram 
Sumter,  Lieutenant-Commander  Henry  Erben,  ran  past 
the  batteries.  Anticipating  this  move,  the  Confeder- 
ates moved  the  Arkansas,  after  dark,  to  a  place  where 
she  could  not  be  so  readily  seen  ;  but  Farragut  discov- 
ered the  change,  and  many  of  his  ships  delivered  an 
effective  fire  upon  her.  Her  casemate  was  badly  shat- 
tered, the  iron  being  loosened  so  as  to  render  her  unfit 
for  service,  and  afterward  most  of  her  men  were  sent 
to  assist  in  working  the  shore  batteries.  One  11 -inch 
shot  pierced  her  casemate  and  killed  or  wounded  sev- 
eral men.  In  this  second  passage  of  the  Yicksburg 


362  OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS.  1862. 

batteries  the  National  vessels  had  five  killed  and  six- 
teen wounded,  while  the  flotilla  under  Davis  lost  thir- 
teen killed,  thirty-four  wounded  and  ten  missing.  Of 
this  loss  the  Carondelet,  in  her  action  with  the  ram, 
had  four  killed,  six  wounded  and  two  drowned,  and 
the  Tyler  eight  killed  and  sixteen  wounded.  The  loss 
in  the  Arkansas  is  placed  at  ten  killed  and  fifteen 
wounded. 

Still  determined  on  completing  the  destruction  of 
the  Arkansas,  Commodore  William  D.  Porter,  in  the 
Essex,  with  the  Queen  of  the  West,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Alfred  E.  Ellet,  at  dawn  of  July  22d  boldly  ran  under 
the  batteries  of  Vicksburg  to  attack  the  ram,  while 
the  Benton,  the  Cincinnati  and  the  Louisville  opened 
a  heavy  fire  on  the  upper  batteries.  As  Commodore 
Porter  was  approaching  the  ram,  Commander  Brown 
slackened  his  forward  moorings  so  that  the  head  of  his 
vessel  swung  out  into  the  stream,  thus  presenting  her 
sharp  ram  to  the  square  bow  of  the  National  gunboat, 
which  was  coming  down  at  a  high  speed  with  a  view 
of  ramming.  Seeing  that  his  own  vessel  would  be 
sunk  in  such  a  collision,  Porter  at  a  distance  of  fifty 
yards  fired  three  solid  9-inch  shot  at  the  Arkansas, 
one  of  which  struck  her  casemate  a  foot  beyond  the 
forward  port,  cutting  off  the  ends  of  the  railroad  iron 
and  drove  the  pieces  diagonally  across  the  gunroom. 
The  shot  pierced  the  casemate,  split  upon  the  breech  of 
the  starboard  after-gun  and  killed  eight  and  wounded 
six  of  her  complement  of  forty-one  men.  At  the  same 
time  Porter  changed  his  course  as  rapidly  as  his  clumsy 
craft  would  admit,  and  so  far  avoided  a  collision  as  to 
graze  the  port  side  of  the  Confederate  ironclad,  and  his 
vessel  was  carried  ashore  just  astern  of  the  Arkansas. 

In  this  critical  position  the  Essex  remained  fully 
ten  minutes  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire,  but  getting  afloat 
again  she  continued  her  course  down  the  river  and 
soon  ran  out  of  range.  The  Queen  of  the  West  suc- 
ceeded in  giving  the  Arkansas  a  heavy  blow,  and  for 


1862.  DESTRUCTION  OP  THE  ARKANSAS.  3G3 

a  moment  the  Confederates  believed  that  their  vessel 
was  destroyed.  The  Nationalist  ram  then  backed 
off  and  struck  again,  but  the  iron-bound  hull  of  the 
Arkansas  remained  intact.  All  this  time  the  Union 
ram  had  been  subjected  to  a  terrific  fire.  Large  holes 
were  yawning  in  her  hull,  one  of  her  steam  pipes  had 
been  carried  away  and  her  smokestacks  were  perforated 
like  a  nutmeg  grater.  As  his  vessel  had  been  struck 
about  twenty-five  times,  and  was  leaking  seriously, 
Ellet  endeavored  to  escape  up  stream,  but,  although 
exposed  to  a  heavy  fire,  he  managed  to  rejoin  the  flo- 
tilla above  Vicksburg.  One  heavy  shot  passed  through 
an  iron  safe  and  dismounted  a  gun.  On  the  3d  of 
August  the  Arkansas,  with  two  gunboats,  left  Vicks- 
burg to  assist  a  detachment  of  troops  under  General 
Breckenridge  in  making  an  attack  on  the  National  gar- 
rison at  Baton  Rouge.  The  attack  was  made  on  the  5th 
of  August,  but  the  Confederates  were  repelled,  the  gun- 
boats KataJidin  and  Kineo  supporting  the  land  forces 
with  a  heavy  fire.  The  Arkansas  was  detained  from 
participating  in  this  affair  by  her  machinery  breaking 
down  several  times,  and  finally  she  ran  aground.  On 
the  approach  of  the  Essex,  whose  commander  had  been 
on  the  watch  for  the  ironclad,  Lieutenant  H.  K.  Stevens, 
then  commanding  the  Arkansas,  escaped  with  his  men 
on  shore  and  blew  her  up. 

It  became  more  and  more  evident  to  the  Government 
that  it  was  impossible  to  hold  the  points  on  the  river 
captured  by  the  navy  without  the  co-operation  of  a 
land  force,  and  as  the  troops  could  not  be  spared  im- 
mediately, the  flotilla  under  Davis  retired  to  Helena 
and  the  lower  squadron  to  New  Orleans,  while  the 
larger  vessels  -were  detailed  on  blockade  duty.  Several 
expeditions  were  undertaken  by  the  navy,  however, 
with  a  view  of  preventing  the  enemy  from  fortifying 
the  banks.  On  the  14th  of  August,  Lieutenant  Com- 
mander Phelps,  with  the  gunboats  Benton,  Mound  City 
and  General  Bragg,  and  the  rams  Monarch,  Samson 


364:  OPERATIONS  ON   WESTERN  RIVERS.       1862-1863. 

and  Lioness,  with  a  land  force  under  Colonel  Woods, 
left  Helena,  and,  going  down  the  Mississippi,  dispersed 
several  bodies  of  Confederate  troops  and  captured  two 
steamers.  Entering  Yazoo  River,  he  destroyed  a  bat- 
tery about  twenty  miles  up  the  stream.  In  all,  about 
half  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  public  property  was 
destroyed  in  this  expedition.  On  January  15,  1863, 
the  gunboats  Calhoun,  Estrella,  and  Kinsman  de- 
stroyed the  Confederate  steamer  Cotton  in  Bayou 
Teche.  Lieutenant-Commander  Thomas  McKean  Buch- 
anan, the  senior  officer  in  the  squadron,  was  killed. 
Farragut  called  him  "one  of  our  most  gallant  and  per- 
severing young  officers." 

On  the  1st  of  October,  1862,  the  Mississippi  flotilla 
was  transferred  from  the  Army  to  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment. Meantime  two  new  types  of  war  vessel  had  been 
added  to  the  fleet.  At  the  suggestion  of  Captain  Davis 
a  number  of  light-draft  stern-wheel  steamers  were  pur- 
chased, and  were  covered  from  bow  to  stern,  to  the 
height  of  eleven  feet,  with  iron  plate  a  half  to  three 
quarters  of  an  inch  thick.  These  were  called  tinclads. 
They  drew  not  over  three  feet,  were  designed  for  opera- 
tions in  shallow  waters  and  were  armed  with  six  to 
eight  24-pounder  brass  howitzers  each,  intended  prin- 
cipally to  disperse  sharpshooters  and  troops  with  light- 
field  pieces  on  the  banks  of  narrow  streams.  Another 
class  of  war  vessels  was  designed  for  heavy  fighting. 
They  were  the  Lafayette,  the  Tuscumbia,  the  Indian- 
ola,  the  Ghoctaw  and  the  Cliillicothe.  These  were  flat- 
bottomed  vessels  drawing  from  five  to  seven  feet  of 
water  (the  Lafayette  and  Choctaw  drew  nine  feet),  hav- 
ing side  wheels  three  quarters  of  the  way  aft,  each 
wheel  acting  independently  of  the  other,  which  gave 
greater  rapidity  in  turning. 

Two  of  these  vessels— the  Indlanola  and  the  Tus- 
cumbia— also  had  propellers,  and  were  regarded  as  un- 
usually efficient.  The  casemate  on  the  forward  deck 
was  plated  with  two  to  three  inches  of  iron,  while  the 


1862.  PORTER  TAKES  COMMAND.  365 

forward  plating  in  some  of  the  craft  was  six  inches 
thick.  Sliding  shutters,  three  inches  thick,  covered 
the  ports  when  the  guns  were  run  in.  Between  the 
side  wheels  in  the  two  larger  vessels  there  was  a  wooden 
casemate  plated  with  2-inch  iron  on  the  after  end  and 
with  1-inch  iron  on  each  side.  The  Tuscumbia  car- 
ried three  11-inch  guns  in  her  forward  casemate  and 
two  rifled  100-pounders  in  the  after  casemate.  The 
Indianola  carried  two  11 -inch  guns  in  the  forward  and 
two  9-inch  guns  in  the  after  casemate.  The  Chillicothe 
had  two  11-inch  guns,  and  the  CJioctaw  three  9-inch 
guns  and  one  rifled  100-pounder  in  the  forward  case- 
mate. She  also  had  a  second  casemate  forward  of  the 
wheels,  mounting  two  24-pounder  howitzers,  and  a  third 
casemate  abaft  the  wheel  containing  two  30-pounder 
Parrott  rifled  guns.  The  Lafayette  carried  two  11 -inch 
Dahlgren  guns  forward,  four  9-inch  guns  in  broadside, 
and  two  24-pounder  howitzers  and  two  100-pounder 
Parrott  guns  in  the  stern.  The  Samson  had  been  fitted 
as  a  floating  machine-shop  to  accompany  the  flotilla 
and  repair  damages,  while  the  steamer  Black  HawTc, 
fitted  as  a  school  ship,  carried  an  apparatus  for  raising 
sunken  vessels. 

Commander  David  Dixon  Porter,  with  the  local  rank 
of  Acting  Rear- Admiral,  succeeded  Captain  Davis  Oc- 
tober 15, 1862,  and  on  the  21st  of  November  he  ordered 
Captain  Walke  to  blockade  Yazoo  River  and  destroy 
any  batteries  he  might  find.  Arriving  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  Captain  Walke  sent  the  light-draft  steamers 
Signal,  Acting-Master  Scot,  and  Marmora,  Acting- 
Master  Letty,  some  miles  up  the  river,  where  they  de- 
stroyed several  torpedoes  and  returned.  On  December 
12th  Walke  sent  them  up  again,  accompanied  by  the 
Cairo,  Lieutenant-Commander  Thomas  Self  ridge,  Jr., 
the  Pittsburgh,  Lieutenant  Hoel,  and  the  Queen  of  the 
West.  While  these  vessels  were  engaged  eighteen  or 
twenty  miles  up  the  river  in  lifting  the  torpedoes  (demi- 
johns filled  with  powder  to  be  ignited  by  a  wire  that  was 


366  OPERATIONS  ON  WESTERN  RIVERS.       1862-1863. 

operated  by  a  Confederate  naval  officer  concealed  on 
shore),  one  or  two  of  them  exploded  under  the  Cairo's 
bow,  and  in  twelve  minutes  she  sank  in  thirty-six  feet 
of  water.  In  spite  of  this  disaster  the  remaining  gun- 
boats proceeded  with  the  work.  On  December  26th 
they  came  within  reach  of  the  batteries  at  Drumgoold's 
Bluff,  by  which  time  Porter  had  arrived  with  the  other 
gunboats.  Taking  a  position  twelve  hundred  yards 
distant,  the  gunboats  opened  fire,  while  National  troops 
under  General  William  Tecumseh  Sherman  attacked 
the  works  from  the  rear  on  the  29th,  but  were  repelled. 
In  this  affair  the  Benton  was  struck  twenty-five  times, 
and  her  commander,  Lieutenant-Commander  William 
Gwin,  was  mortally  wounded,  Master-at-Arms  Robert 
Boyle  was  killed,  and  eight  men  were  wounded,  one  of 
them  mortally.  The  flotilla  then  retired  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  capture  of  the  transport  Blue  Wing  with  its 
cargo  of  valuable  stores  by  a  Confederate  expedition 
fitted  out  at  Arkansas  Post,  induced  the  Nationalists 
to  send  an  expedition  against  that  place.  Arkansas 
Post  was  defended  by  a  bastioned  fort  on  the  left  bank 
of  Arkansas  River,  mounting  three  9  inch  guns,  one 
8-inch  shell  gun,  four  rifled  and  four  smooth-bore  guns 
and  six  light  guns.  Rifle  pits  also  were  dug  around 
the  fort.  The  place  was  defended  by  Lieutenant  John 
W.  Dunnington,  formerly  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
with  five  thousand  men.  On  January  9,  1863,  Porter, 
with  the  De  Kalb,  Lieutenant-Commander  Walker, 
the  Louisville,  Lieutenant-Commander  E.  K.  Owen,  the 
Cincinnati,  Lieutenant  George  M.  Bache,  and  the  light- 
draft  gunboats  Black  Hawk,  Lexington,  Rattler,  Glide, 
Signal,  Forest  Rose,  Romeo,  Juliet  and  Marmora,  to- 
gether with  the  transports  conveying  troops  under 
General  McClernand,  appeared  before  the  fort,  and 
while  the  troops  were  being  landed  four  miles  below, 
the  ironclads,  with  the  Rattler,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Watson  Smith,  moved  up  the  river  and  at  5.30  P.  M. 


1863.  ARKANSAS  POST  AND  ST.  CHARLES.  367 

opened  a  heavy  fire.  The  three  ironclads  approached, 
bows  on,  within  four  hundred  yards  of  the  earthwork, 
while  the  lighter  gunboats,  with  the  Black  Hawk  and 
the  Lexington,  took  a  position  a  short  distance  behind 
them  and  threw  shell  and  shrapnel. 

Before  the  attack  was  over,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Smith  ran  past  the  fort  and  opened  an  enfilading  fire, 
but  becoming  entangled  in  driftwood  he  was  obliged 
to  return,  suffering  a  considerable  loss.  At  1.30  p.  M. 
on  the  following  day  the  gunboats  renewed  the  attack 
and  the  troops  began  the  assault  in  the  rear.  At  4 
p.  M.  the  Rattler,  the  Glide,  Lieutenant  Wood  worth, 
and  the  Monarch,  Colonel  Charles  Ellet,  ran  by  the 
fort  and  destroyed  a  ferry  ten  miles  above.  At  4.40 
p.  M.,  when  the  troops  were  about  to  make  an  assault, 
the  fort  surrendered.  In  this  affair  the  De  Kalb  sus- 
tained some  damage  in  her  hull,  one  of  her  32-pounder 
guns  was  dismounted  and  one  10-inch  gun  was  de- 
stroyed. The  other  ironclads  also  were  injured  in  their 
hulls.  The  injuries  to  the  men  in  the  flotilla  were  con- 
fined to  the  De  Kalb  and  the  Louisville,  the  casualties 
being  six  killed  and  twenty- five  wounded. 

On  the  12th  the  De  Kalb  and  the  Cincinnati,  with 
the  transports  and  troops  under  General  Gorman, 
pushed  up  White  River  and  reached  St.  Charles  on  the 
morning  of  the  14th.  This  place  was  found  to  be  de- 
serted, the  Confederates  having  retreated  up  the  river 
in  the  Blue  Wing,  taking  with  them  a  field  battery 
and  two  8-inch  guns.  Leaving  the  Cincinnati  at  St. 
Charles,  the  De  Kalb  with  the  transports  hastened  up 
the  river  in  chase  and  reached  Duval's  Bluff  (fifty 
miles  farther)  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
16th,  and  found  that  the  Blue  Wing  had  left  that 
place  only  a  few  minutes  before,  but  the  two  8-inch 
guns  had  been  landed  and  were  captured  while  the 
enemy  was  putting  them  in  a  railroad  car.  The  guns 
were  destroyed,  and  the  gunboats  returned  to  Vicks- 
burg. 


368  OPERATIONS  ON   WESTERN  RIVERS.  1863. 

At  4.30  A.  M.,  February  3d,  the  Queen  of  the  West, 
Colonel  Charles  Rivers  Ellet,  went  down  the  river  to 
run  the  Vicksburg  batteries.  Owing  to  some  difficulty 
with  the  wheel,  it  was  broad  daylight  before  she  ap- 
proached them  ;  but  her  intrepid  commander  kept 
steadily  on  his  course,  in  spite  of  the  angry  protests 
of  all  the  Confederate  guns.  When  opposite  Vicks- 
burg he  deliberately  rounded  to  and  rammed  the 
steamer  Vicksburg  that  was  moored  to  the  bank.  At 
this  moment  two  shells  entered  the  cotton- protected 
bulwarks  of  the  Queen  of  the  West  and  started  a 
fire  near  her  starboard  wheel,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  flashes  of  her  guns  set  the  ram  on  fire  forward. 
Hastening  downstream,  Colonel  Ellet  cut  his  cotton 
bales  adrift  and  arrived  below  Vicksburg  in  safety, 
although  his  vessel  had  been  struck  twelve  times  by 
heavy  shot  and  one  of  his  guns  had  been  dismounted. 
Continuing  down  the  river  the  same  day,  he  was  fired 
upon  by  two  batteries,  but  no  injury  was  done,  and  on 
the  next  day,  when  fifteen  miles  below  the  mouth  of 
Red  River,  he  captured  the  steamers  A.  W.  Balser  and 
Moro,  laden  with  stores  for  the  Confederate  army. 
Retracing  his  course  up  the  river,  Colonel  Ellet  cap- 
tured seven  Confederate  officers  and  a  third  steamer, 
the  Berwick  Bay,  laden  with  stores. 

Having  burned  his  prizes  and  replenished  his  coal- 
bunkers  from  a  barge  that  had  been  floated  past  Vicks- 
burg on  the  night  of  February  7th,  Colonel  Ellet  in 
company  with  the  De  Soto,  a  small  ferry-boat  partially 
protected  with  cotton  and  iron,  and  the  barge,  went 
down  the  river,  destroying  all  craft  and  property  that 
fell  in  his  way.  Proceeding  up  Red  River  to  Atcha- 
falaya  Bayou,  he  left  the  De  Soto  and  the  barge  at  that 
point,  entered  the  bayou  and  destroyed  a  large  quan- 
tity of  Government  property,  including  a  train  of  army 
wagons  and  seventy  barrels  of  beef.  At  one  time  the 
Queen  of  the  West  was  fired  on  by  guerrillas  and  one 
of  her  officers  was  wounded.  Returning  to  Red  River, 


1863.  LOSS  OF  THE  QUEEN   OF  THE  WEST.  369 

the  Queen  of  the  West,  with  the  De  Soto,  pushed  up 
that  stream  and  on  the  morning  of  February  14th  seized 
the  transport  Era  No.  5,  with  two  Confederate  officers. 
On  rounding  a  bluff  near  Gordon's  Landing,  seventy- 
five  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  Queen  of 
the  West  was  suddenly  fired  upon  by  a  battery  of  four 
32- pounders,  and  in  attempting  to  back  out  of  range 
she  ran  aground  in  easy  reach  of  the  enemy.  A  shot 
soon  severed  a  steam-pipe  and  compelled  the  crew  to 
abandon  the  ship.  This  was  done  without  attempting 
to  burn  it,  as  Ellet  was  unable  to  remove  a  wounded 
officer.  There  being  only  one  boat  in  the  Queen  of  the 
West,  most  of  her  men  escaped  to  the  De  Soto  on  bales 
of  cotton. 

In  her  haste  to  retreat  down  the  river,  the  De  Soto 
ran  into  a  bank  and  lost  her  rudder,  so  that  the  fugi- 
tives were  compelled  to  drift  with  the  current,  picking 
up,  from  time  to  time,  fugitives  from  the  Queen  of  the 
West  as  they  floated  down  the  stream  on  bales  of  cot- 
ton. When  ten  miles  from  the  place  of  the  disaster 
the  De  Soto  was  overtaken  by  her  yawl,  which  had 
been  sent  to  bring  off  some  of  the  men  from  the  Queen 
of  the  West.  Reaching  the  place  where  they  had  left 
the  Era  No.  5,  the  fugitives  burned  the  De  Soto  and 
continued  their  flight  in  the  transport,  reaching  the 
Mississippi  on  the  15th.  On  the  next  day,  when  eight 
miles  below  Natchez,  they  met  the  Indianola,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander George  Brown,  who  on  the  night 
of  February  12th,  with  a  coal  barge  on  each  side,  had 
run  the  Vicksburg  batteries  unscathed.  The  two  Na- 
tional vessels  now  turned  downstream,  and  at  Ellis  Cliff 
met  the  Confederate  gunboat  Webb,  which  was  in  hot 
pursuit  of  the  Era  No.  5.  A  chase  followed,  but  the 
Webb  soon  distanced  the  Indianola,  encumbered  as  she 
was  with  the  coal  barges.  Arriving  at  the  mouth  of 
Red  River,  Brown,  on  the  18th  of  February,  sent  the 
Era  No.  5  to  communicate  with  the  army  near  Vicks- 
burg while  he  prepared  his  vessel  for  an  attack  from 


370  OPERATIONS  ON   WESTERN  RIVERS.  1863. 

the  Webb  and  the  Queen  of  the  West  by  filling  his 
gangways  and  casemates  with  cotton. 

When  a  little  below  New  Carthage,  at  9.30  p.  M., 
February  24th,  the  Indianola  discovered  several  steam- 
ers in  chase  of  her.  They  were  the  Queen  of  the  West, 
Captain  James  McCloskey  ;  the  Webb,  Captain  Charles 
Pierce  ;  the  cottonclad  steamer  Dr.  Batey,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Brand,  having  on  board  two  hundred  and  fifty 
riflemen  under  Major  J.  L.  Brent ;  and  the  tender 
Grand  Era.  The  Confederates  determined  to  attack 
under  cover  of  darkness,  when  the  National  gunboat 
could  not  fire  with  accuracy.  When  a  little  above 
Palmyra  Island  the  Queen  of  the  West,  leading  the 
other  Confederate  vessels  by  five  hundred  yards,  at- 
tempted to  ram  the  Indianola  abaft  the  port  wheel, 
but,  by  backing,  Lieutenant-Commander  Brown  re- 
ceived the  blow  on  the  coal  barge,  which  was  crushed 
in,  and,  being  cut  adrift,  sank.  Making  downstream, 
the  Indianola  met  the  Webb,  which  was  coming  up  the 
river  at  full  speed,  and  a  head-on  collision  took  place, 
the  bow  of  the  latter  being  crushed  in  eight  feet,  but 
as  this  part  of  her  hull  had  been  filled  in  solid  she  did 
not  sink.  The  Indianola  was  not  seriously  injured. 
The  Webb  aimed  a  second  blow,  but  succeeded  only  in 
carrying  away  the  second  barge. 

By  this  time  the  Queen  of  the  West  had  turned  and 
was  now  coming  downstream  at  full  speed  with  the 
intention  of  ramming  the  Indianola  again,  but  the 
National  gunboat  also  had  turned  and  was  heading  up- 
stream, so  that  the  Confederate  ram  struck  the  Indian- 
ola a  glancing  blow  on  the  starboard  bow,  and  as  the 
Queen  of  the  West  passed,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Brown  sent  two  9-inch  shot  into  her,  killing  two  and 
wrounding  four  men  besides  disabling  two  guns.  In  the 
uncertain  light  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  for  those 
peering  out  of  the  narrow  sight-holes  in  the  pilot  house 
of  the  Indianola  to  keep  track  of  so  many  lively  foes, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  fire  with  any  accuracy  except 


1863.  LOSS  OF  THE  INDIANOLA.  371 

at  close  quarters.  The  Indianola  soon  received  another 
blow  from  the  Queen  of  the  West  just  abaft  the  wheel- 
house,  which  disabled  the  starboard  rudder.  Almost 
at  the  same  instant  the  Webb  struck  her  stern,  caus- 
ing the  water  to  rush  in  at  an  alarming  rate.  Thus 
disabled,  Brown  ran  aground  on  the  west  bank  and 
surrendered,  but  the  Confederates  towed  their  prize 
over  to  the  east  bank,  where  she  sank  near  Jefferson 
Davis'  plantation.  In  this  affair  the  Indianola  had 
one  killed,  one  wounded  and  seven  missing,  while  the 
Confederate  loss  is  reported  at  two  killed  and  five 
wounded. 

As  the  Confederates  were  attempting  to  raise  the 
Indianola  two  days  later,  the  Nationalists  above 
Vicksburg  made  a  dummy  monitor  by  placing  pork 
barrels  on  a  coal-barge  so  as  to  resemble  smokestacks, 
and  building  fires  in  mud  furnaces  sent  her  down  the 
river  at  daylight.  As  she  neared  the  Vicksburg  bat- 
teries a  terrific  fire  was  opened  on  her,  but  she  passed 
unscathed  and  ran  ashore  about  two  and  a  half  miles 
above  the  Indianola.  When  the  Confederate  com- 
manders saw  the  "terrible-looking"  monitor  coming 
down  they  fled  precipitately,  leaving  the  Indianola 
to  her  fate,  and  on  the  following  day,  although  the 
dummy  monitor  was  still  hard  and  fast  aground,  they 
destroyed  their  prize.  Two  months  afterward,  or  April 
14,  the  Queen  of  the  West,  then  commanded  by  Captain 
Fuller,  was  destroyed  in  Grand  Lake  (in  Bayou  Atcha- 
falaya),  after  a  spirited  action,  by  National  gunboats, 
JSstrella,  Calhoun,  and  Arizona,  under  the  command 
of  Commander  Cook. 

By  cutting  the  levee  near  Delta  so  as  to  flood  the 
surrounding  country,  it  was  hoped  to  enter  Yazoo 
River  through  Moon  Lake,  Cold  Water  and  the  Tal- 
lahatchie  Rivers  and  attack  Vicksburg  from  that  side. 
Under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  H. 
Wilson,  of  the  engineers,  the  work  of  cutting  the  levee 
was  begun  February  2d,  and  the  river  was  let  in  on  the 


372  OPERATIONS  ON   WESTERN  RIVERS.  1863. 

following  evening,  but  it  took  several  days  for  the 
water  to  attain  its  level  in  the  vast  territory  flooded. 
Late  in  February  the  following  gunboats  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant-Commander  Watson  Smith, 
and  transports  with  six  thousand  troops,  were  detailed 
by  Porter  for  this  service :  Rattler,  flagship  ;  Chilli- 
cothe,  Lieutenant-Commander  James  P.  Foster ;  De 
Kalb.  Lieutenant-Commander  John  G.  Walker ;  Mar- 
mora, Signal,  Romeo,  Petrel,  Forest  Rose,  and  the  rams 
Lioness  and  Fulton.  After  nearly  four  days'  struggle 
against  overhanging  trees  and  masses  of  driftwood,  the 
vessels  got  as  far  as  Cold  Water  River.  When  the 
Confederates  learned  of  the  expedition  they  felled 
enormous  trees  across  the  stream,  which  so  delayed  the 
gunboats  that  it  was  March  6th  before  they  entered 
Tallahatchie  River. 

By  this  time  many  of  the  transports  and  several  of 
the  gunboats  had  been  seriously  injured  by  this  "land 
cruise."  The  smokestacks  of  the  Romeo  were  carried 
away,  the  Petrel  lost  her  wheel  and  the  Chillicothe 
had  a  plank  started  under  water  by  running  on  the 
stump  of  a  tree.  But  despite  these  injuries  the  vessels 
pushed  on  and  approached  Fort  Pemberton  on  the  llth 
of  March.  This  fort  was  hastily  constructed  of  earth 
and  cotton  and  mounted  one  6'4-inch  rifled  gun,  some 
field  pieces,  and  three  20-pounder  Parrott  rifled  guns, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  F.  E.  Shepperd,  of 
the  Confederate  Navy.  The  channel  was  obstructed 
by  a  raft  and  the  hull  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  the  little 
steamer  that  had  been  fired  on  by  the  Confederates  in 
Charleston  early  in  1861. 

As  the  river  was  so  narrow  at  this  point  that  only 
one  gunboat  at  a  time  could  act  freely,  the  CTiillicotJie, 
at  10  A.  M.  on  March  llth,  advanced  and  opened  a 
heavy  fire  on  Fort  Pemberton,  but  in  a  short  time  she 
was  struck  twice  on  the  turret,  and  she  retired  in  order 
to  get  cotton  bales  for  additional  protection.  At  4.25 
P.  M.  she  returned  with  the  De  Kalb,  but  soon  after- 


1863.  ATTACK  OX  FORT  PEMBERTON.  373 

ward  a  shell  struck  the  muzzle  of  her  port  11-inch  gun 
just  as  the  gunners  had  entered  a  shell  and  were  strip- 
ping the  patch  from  the  fuse.  Both  shells  exploded  at 
the  same  instant,  killing  two  men  and  wounding  eleven. 
After  the  Chillicothe  had  received  a  shot  that  killed  a 
man  she  drew  out  of  range,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Foster  reporting  four  killed  and  fifteen  wounded.  The 
next  day  was  spent  in  preparing  for  another  attack, 
and  at  11.30  A.  M.  on  March  13th  the  Chillicothe  and 
the  De  Kalb  again  came  into  action.  After  maintain- 
ing a  severe  fire  until  2  P.  M.  the  Chillicothe  retired, 
having  been  struck  forty-four  times  ;  but  the  De  Kalb 
still  kept  up  the  fight,  firing  every  fifteen  minutes, 
although  getting  no  reply.  The  attack  was  renewed 
on  the  following  day  by  the  Chillicothe  and  the  De 
Kalb,  but  they  were  badly  cut  up  and  compelled  to 
retire,  the  former  having  four  killed  and  sixteen  wound- 
ed, and  the  latter  three  killed  and  three  wounded.  On 
March  15th  a  gun  from  the  De  Kalb  was  landed  and 
placed  in  a  battery,  but  on  the  18th  the  expedition  was 
abandoned  and  the  gunboats  retreated. 

Meantime  Porter,  with  the  Louisville,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  E.  K.  Owen ;  the  Cincinnati.  Lieutenant 
George  M.  Bache ;  the  Carondelet,  Lieutenant  John 
M.  Murphy ;  the  Mound  City,  Lieutenant  Byron  Wil- 
son ;  the  Pittsburgh,  Lieutenant  William  R.  Hoel,  and 
four  mortar  boats  and  four  tugs,  attempted  to  reach 
the  Yazoo  below  Yazoo  City.  Entering  Steele's  Bayou 
March  16th,  the  vessels  forced  their  way  through  the 
bushes  and  trees  of  Black  Bayou  and  up  Deer  Creek 
to  Rolling  Fork,  where  the  enemy  began  felling  trees, 
not  only  to  prevent  a  further  advance,  but  to  cut  off 
the  retreat  of  the  gunboats.  Finding  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  carry  out  his  plans,  Porter,  on  the  20th  of 
March,  began  a  difficult  retreat  and  narrowly  escaped 
losing  his  entire  squadron. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  MISSISSIPPI   OPENED. 

WHILE  this  indecisive  warfare  was  taking  place  in 
the  upper  Mississippi,  Farragut  was  attending  to  his 
extensive  command  in  the  Gulf ;  but  on  the  14th  of 
March,  1863,  he  appeared  with  his  fleet  at  Port  Hudson 
and  determined  to  run  past  the  place.  The  batteries  at 
this  point,  on  a  bluff  about  a  hundred  feet  high,  mount- 
ed two  10-inch  and  two  8-inch  columbiads,  two  42- 
pounders,  two  32-pounders,  three  24-pounders  and 
eight  rifled  guns.  The  National  vessels  formed  in 
pairs,  each  of  the  heavier  ones  taking  a  gunboat  on  its 
port  side,  excepting  the  Mississippi:  the  Hartford 
(flagship),  Captain  James  Shedden  Palmer,  and  the 
Albatross,  Lieutenant-Commander  John  E.  Hart ;  the 
Richmond  (the  slowest  ship),  Captain  James  Alden, 
and  the  Genesee  (the  fastest  vessel),  Commander  Wil- 
liam Henry  Macomb ;  the  Monongahela,  Captain  James 
Paterson  McKinstry,  and  the  Kineo,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander John  Watters;  and  the  Mississippi,  Captain 
Melancton  Smith. 

As  these  vessels  drew  near  the  enemy  at  eleven 
o'clock  that  night,  six  mortar  schooners,  with  the  Es- 
sex, Commander  Charles  Henry  Bromedge  Caldwell, 
and  the  Sachem,  took  a  position  and  opened  a  heavy 
fire  on  the  lower  batteries.  When  the  fleet  was  in 
range  the  batteries  opened  a  fire,  to  which  the  ships 
responded  with  their  bow  guns  and  the  howitzers  in 
their  tops.  Large  bonfires  were  lighted  along  the 
shores,  and  the  dense  smoke  in  the  damp  night  air  set- 
tled on  the  river,  causing  an  impenetrable  gloom  and 

374 


1863.  FARRAGUT  PASSES  PORT  HUDSON.  375 

throwing  the  line  of  battle  into  confusion.  Being  in  the 
lead,  the  Hartford  was  able  to  push  ahead  of  the  smoke; 
but  when  she  got  to  the  bend  in  the  river  her  bow 
was  caught  by  the  five-mile  current  and  she  was  nearly 
carried  ashore,  her  stern  actually  touching  ground 
under  the  guns  of  a  battery.  By  the  assistance  of  her 
consort  the  flagship  backed  clear  and  again  headed  up- 
stream, passing  beyond  the  line  of  fire  with  only  one 
man  killed  and  two  wounded.  One  marine  fell  over- 
board, and  although  his  cries  for  help  were  heard  in 
the  other  ships,  he  could  not  be  saved.  Just  as  the 
Richmond  and  the  Genesee  had  reached  the  last  bat- 
tery and  were  about  to  turn,  a  plunging  shot  came  into 
the  berth  deck  of  the  former,  pierced  a  pile  of  hawsers 
and  clothes  bags,  entered  the  engine  room,  displaced  the 
starboard  safety  valve,  and,  twisting  the  lever  of  the 
port  safety  valve,  threw  it  partly  open.  The  escaping 
steam  quickly  filled  the  fire  room  and  berth  deck  and 
reduced  the  pressure  to  nine  pounds,  which  made  it 
impossible  for  the  Richmond  to  stem  the  current,  even 
with  the  aid  of  her  consort,  and  she  was  compelled 
to  retreat.  In  doing  this  Captain  Alden  had  to  run 
the  gantlet  of  the  enemy's  batteries  again,  besides 
taking  great  risks  of  being  fired  into  by  the  other  Union 
vessels.  The  RicJimond  had  three  men  killed  and  fif- 
teen wounded,  Lieutenant-Commander  Andrew  Boyd 
Cummings  being  among  the  latter.  He  was  mortally 
hurt  while  cheering  his  men. 

When  the  MonongaTiela  and  the  Kineo  were  under 
fire  of  one  of  the  heaviest  Confederate  batteries,  a  shot 
disabled  the  latter's  rudder,  and  soon  afterward  the 
Monongahela  ran  aground.  The  Kineo,  still  having 
headway,  broke  adrift  from  her  consort  and  also  ran 
aground  a  short  distance  below.  At  this  moment  a 
shot  carried  away  the  bridge  under  Captain  McKinstry, 
throwing  him  to  the  deck,  disabled.  Lieutenant  Na- 
thaniel W.  Thomas  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the 
ship  and  conducted  himself  with  credit.  The  Monon- 


376  THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED.  1863. 

gahela  remained  in  this  condition  nearly  half  an  hour, 
when  the  Klneo,  getting  afloat  again,  managed  to  tow 
her  off ;  but  Lieutenant-Commander  Watters,  finding 
that  it  was  impossible  to  steer  his  craft,  drifted  out  of 
action.  No  one  on  board  was  injured.  The  Monon- 
galiela  continued  up  the  river  until  near  the  bend, 
when  a  crank-pin  became  heated  and  she  also  drifted 
helplessly  out  of  action,  sustaining  a  loss  of  six  killed 
and  twenty-one  wounded. 

The  Mississippi,  which  was  the  last  vessel  in  line, 
passed  the  batteries  and  was  approaching  the  bend  at 
full  speed  when  she  ran  hard  and  fast  aground.  After 
thirty-five  minutes  spent  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  get  her 
afloat,  during  which  she  was  subjected  to  a  terrific  fire, 
Captain  Smith  decided  to  abandon  her,  and  when  every 
one  had  been  set  ashore  a  fire  was  started  in  the  for- 
ward storeroom  ;  but  before  the  flames  had  made  seri- 
ous headway  three  shot  pierced  the  hull  below  the 
water  line  and  the  inrushing  water  extinguished  the 
flames.  The  ship  was  then  fired  aft,  and  when  assured 
that  she  would  be  destroyed  Captain  Smith  left  her. 
At  3  A.  M.  she  drifted  down  the  river,  and  at  6.30  A.  M. 
blew  up.  Her  loss  was  reported  to  be  twenty-five  killed 
and  many  wounded.  Such  was  the  fate  of  Perry's  flag- 
ship in  his  expedition  to  Japan.  The  Missouri,  a  sister 
ship,  was  burned  twenty  years  before  at  Gibraltar. 

After  communicating  with  General  Banks,  Farragut 
proceeded  up  the  river  with  the  Hartford  and  the  Al- 
batross. At  Grand  Gulf  these  vessels  were  fired  on  by 
four  rifled  guns  and  sustained  a  loss  of  two  killed  and 
six  wounded.  Farragut  arrived  below  Yicksburg  March 
20th,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  ram  Switzerland, 
Colonel  Charles  Rivers  Ellet,  which  ran  the  batteries 
on  the  25th.  The  ram  Lancaster,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
John  A.  Ellet,  also  attempted  to  run  the  gantlet,  but 
she  was  sunk,  her  men  floating  down  the  river  on  bales 
of  cotton.  On  the  31st  of  March  the  three  vessels  went 
down  the  river,  destroying  a  large  number  of  boats,  and 


1863.  PORTER  PASSES  VICKSBURG.  377 

at  Grand  Gulf  the  Confederate  batteries  fired  on  them, 
killing  one  man  in  the  Switzerland.  Reaching  Port 
Hudson  on  April  6th,  Farragut  was  anxious  to  com- 
municate with  the  rest  of  his  squadron  and  General 
Banks,  from  whom  he  had  been  separated  three  weeks. 
As  the  ordinary  means  of  signaling  were  futile,  Farra- 
gut's  secretary,  Mr.  Gabaudan,  on  the  night  of  April 
7th  got  into  a  skiff  covered  with  twigs  so  as  to  resem- 
ble driftwood,  and,  lying  in  the  bottom  with  a  revolver 
and  a  paddle  by  his  side,  he  floated  past  the  batteries 
unmolested,  although  at  one  time  some  Confederate 
sentinels  put  off  in  a  boat  to  examine  his  craft.  On 
the  8th  of  April  Farragut  captured  a  Confederate 
steamer  at  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  and  from  this  time 
a  vigorous  patrol  of  that  stream  was  maintained  and 
the  enemy's  communications  interrupted.  Soon  after- 
ward Farragut  returned  to  the  Gulf,  leaving  Porter  in 
charge  of  the  fleet  in  the  upper  Mississippi. 

On  the  night  of  April  16th  Porter  ran  the  batteries 
at  Vicksburg  with  the  gunboats  Benton  (flagship),  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander James  A.  Greer;  the  Lafayette, 
Captain  Henry  Walke ;  the  Louisville,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Elias  K.  Owen  ;  the  Mound  City,  Lieuten- 
ant Byron  Wilson  ;  the  Pittsburgh,  Acting- Volunteer- 
Lieutenant  William  R.  Hoel ;  the  Carondelet,  Acting- 
Lieutenant  John  McLeod  Murphy ;  the  Tuscumbia, 
Lieutenant-Commander  James  W.  Shirk ;  the  General 
Price,  Commander  Selim  E.  Woodworth ;  and  the  army 
transports  Silver  Wave,  Henry  Clay  and  Forest  Queen 
and  the  tug  Joy.  An  officer  in  the  Lafayette  wrote : 
"The  firing  began  at  10.55  P.  M.  and  continued  about 
an  hour  and  a  quarter,  during  which  a  perfect  tornado 
of  shot  and  shell  continued  to  shriek  over  our  deck  and 
among  all  the  vessels  of  the  fleet.  Five  hundred,  per- 
haps a  thousand,  shot  were  discharged,  but  not  more 
than  one  in  ten  struck  or  did  any  damage  to  the  fleet. 
They  mostly  went  over.  On  running  out  the  guns  a 
good  view  could  be  had  through  the  ports  of  the  rebel 


3Y8  THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED.  1863. 

batteries,  which  now  flashed  like  a  thunderstorm  along 
the  river  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  ;  but  the  incessant 
spatter  of  rifle  balls,  the  spray  from  falling  shot,  the 
thunder  of  steel-pointed  projectiles  upon  our  sides,  did 
not  incline  one  to  take  a  very  protracted  view  of  the 
scenery.  A  few  discharges  of  grape,  shrapnel  and  per- 
cussion shell  was  all  we  could  afford  at  the  time  to  be- 
stow upon  our  rebel  friends  in  exchange  for  their  com- 
pliments. At  each  round  the  Confederate  artillerymen 
gave  a  shout,  which  seemed  surprisingly  near.  At  one 
time  we  could  not  have  been  one  hundred  yards  from 
the  Vicksburg  wharves.  Our  vessel,  with  the  steamer 
and  barge  lashed  to  our  starboard  side,  became  almost 
unmanageable,  drifted  in  the  eddy  and  turned  her  head 
square  round,  looking  the  batteries  in  the  face.  At 
this  time  we  seemed  to  be  receiving  their  concentrated 
flre  at  less  than  a  hundred  yards  from  the  shore.  The 
smoke  from  our  own  and  the  rebel  guns,  with  the  glare 
of  the  burning  buildings  from  the  opposite  shore,  ren- 
dered it  difficult  for  the  pilots  to  make  out  the  direction 
we  were  going.  The  enemy,  supposing  we  were  disabled, 
set  up  a  fiendish  yell  of  triumph.  We  soon,  however, 
backed  round,  and  once  more  presented  our  broadside 
to  them,  and  slowly  drifted  past,  as  if  in  contempt  of 
their  impotent  efforts.  Shells  burst  all  around  the 
pilot-house,  and  at  one  time  John  Denning,  our  pilot, 
was  literally  baptized  with  fire.  He  thought  himself 
killed,  but  he  brushed  the  fire  from  his  head  and  found 
he  was  unhurt."  The  vessels  passed  without  serious 
injury,  excepting  the  transport  Henry  Clay,  which  took 
fire  and  sank.  On  the  night  of  the  22d  six  more  army 
transports  ran  the  batteries,  but  one  of  them  sank. 

On  the  29th  of  April  the  gunboats  Benton,  Tuscum- 
bia,  Louisville,  Carondelet,  Lafayette,  Mound  City 
and  Pittsburgh  attacked  the  Confederate  batteries  at 
Grand  Gulf,  which  now  mounted  two  8-inch  and  two 
7-inch  rifled  guns,  one  rifled  100-pounder  gun,  two  32- 
pounders,  one  30-pounder  rifled  gun  and  five  light  guns. 


1863.  ATTACK  ON  FORT  DE  RUSSY.  379 

After  a  spirited  fire  of  five  and  a  half  hours,  when  the 
enemy  was  nearly  silenced,  Porter  retired  with  a  loss 
of  seven  killed  and  nineteen  wounded  in  the  Benton, 
five  killed  and  twenty-four  wounded  in  the  Tuscumbia, 
six  killed  and  thirteen  wounded  in  the  Pittsburgh  and 
one  wounded  in  the  Lafayette.  On  the  same  night 
Porter  ran  the  batteries,  with  the  loss  of  one  killed  in 
the  Mound  City,  and  assisted  the  army  in  crossing  the 
river  at  Bruinsburg.  On  the  30th  of  April  the  gunboats 
above  Vicksburg,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Kidder  Randolph  Breese,  opened  a  heavy 
fire  on  Haines's  Bluff  to  divert  the  enemy's  attention 
from  Grand  Gulf.  The  Choctaw,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Francis  Munroe  Ramsay,  was  struck  forty- six 
times.  Early  in  May  the  enemy  evacuated  Grand  Gulf. 

On  the  4th  of  May  the  gunboats  Albatross,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander John  E.  Hart,  Calhoun,  Clifton, 
Arizona  and  Estrella,  Lieutenant-Commander  Au- 
gustus P.  Cooke,  attacked  Fort  De  Russy.  The  Al- 
batross, running  within  five  hundred  yards  of  the 
battery,  for  forty  minutes  maintained  a  spirited  fire, 
when  she  was  compelled  to  retire,  having  been  hulled 
eleven  times  and  having  two  men  killed  and  four 
wounded.  The  Benton,  the  Lafayette,  the  Pittsburgh 
and  the  General  Price,  under  Porter,  came  to  their 
assistance  the  next  day,  but  the  fort  was  found  to  be 
deserted,  and  shortly  afterward  Alexandria  was  occu- 
pied by  the  National  forces. 

While  making  a  reconnoissance  down  the  Atcha- 
falaya,  the  Switzerland,  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  A.  Ellet, 
was  fired  upon  at  Simmesport  by  Confederate  artillery, 
June  3,  1863,  and  several  of  her  men  were  injured. 
The  next  day  Captain  Walke,  in  the  Lafayette,  with 
the  Pittsburgh,  shelled  the  Confederates  from  their 
position  and  destroyed  their  camp. 

During  the  attack  on  Port  Hudson,  May  27th,  a 
battery  of  four  9-inch  shell  guns  was  handled  with 
great  spirit  by  a  detachment  of  seamen  from  the  Rich- 


380  THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED.  1863. 

mond  and  the  Essex,  under  the  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Edward  Terry,  while  from  May  23d  to 
June  26th  half  a  dozen  mortar  schooners,  with  the  Es- 
sex and  Carondelet,  kept  up  a  heavy  fire  on  Port  Hud- 
son. The  De  Kalb,  Lieutenant-Commander  John  G. 
Walker,  destroyed  property  in  Yazoo  City  and  a  vessel 
three  hundred  and  ten  feet  long. 

On  the  day  when  Grant  assaulted  Vicksburg,  May 
22d,  the  gunboats  under  Porter  opened  a  heavy  fire  on 
the  enemy  and  received  some  damage  in  return.  While 
engaging  the  batteries  on  the  27th  of  May,  the  Cincin- 
nati, Lieutenant  George  M.  Bache,  was  pierced  below 
the  water  line  by  several  shot.  When  the  vessel  was 
under  this  heavy  fire  Quartermaster  Frank  Bois  went 
out  of  the  casemate  and  coolly  nailed  the  colors  to  the 
stump  of  the  flagstaff.  Before  the  Cincinnati  could 
be  properly  secured  to  the  bank  she  sank.  Her  loss 
was  five  killed,  fourteen  wounded  and  fifteen  missing. 
During  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  thirteen  heavy  guns 
were  landed  from  the  flotilla  and  did  good  service 
under  Lieutenant-Commanders  Thomas  Oliver  Self- 
ridge,  Jr.,  and  John  G.  Walker,  and  Acting-Masters 
Charles  B.  Dahlgren  and  J.  Frank  Keed.  These  guns 
fired  one  thousand  shells  into  Vicksburg.  A  9-inch,  a 
10- inch  and  a  100-pounder  rifled  gun  on  a  scow,  under 
the 'orders  of  Lieutenant-Commander  Francis  M.  Ram- 
say, enfiladed  the  batteries.  In  his  official  report  Porter 
says :  "  The  mortar-boats  were  under  charge  of  Gun- 
ner Eugene  Mack,  who  for  thirty  days  stood  at  his 
post,  the  firing  continuing  night  and  day.  He  per- 
formed his  duty  well,  and  merits  approval.  The  labor 
was  extremely  hard,  and  every  man  at  the  mortars  was 
laid  up  with  sickness  owing  to  excessive  labor.  After 
Mr.  Mack  was  taken  ill,  Ensign  Miller  took  charge  and 
conducted  the  firing  with  marked  ability.  We  know 
that  nothing  conduced  more  to  the  end  of  the  siege  than 
the  mortar-firing,  which  demoralized  the  Confederates, 
killed  and  wounded  a  number  of  persons,  killed  the 


1863.  DONALDSONVILLE.  381 

cattle,  destroyed  property  of  all  kinds  and  set  the  city 
on  fire.  On  the  last  two  days  we  were  enabled  to  reach 
the  outer  works  of  the  enemy  by  firing  heavy  charges 
of  twenty-six  pounds  of  powder ;  the  distance  was  three 
miles,  and  the  falling  of  shells  was  very  annoying  to  the 
rebels.  To  use  the  words  of  the  Confederate  officer,  *  our 
shells  intruded  everywhere.' "  On  July  4,  1803,  Vicks- 
burg  surrendered,  and  five  days  later  Port  Hudson  fell. 

While  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson  was  in  progress  the 
Princess  Royal,  Commander  Melanchton  Brooks  Wool- 
sey,  and  the  Winona,  Lieutenant-Commander  Aaron 
Ward  Weaver,  gave  great  assistance,  repelling  the  Con- 
federate attack  on  the  fort  at  Donaldsonville,  June  28th. 
The  Kineo  arrived  on  the  scene  later.  Two  days  before 
the  surrender  of  Port  Hudson  the  Monongahela,  Com- 
mander Abner  Read,  was  fired  upon  by  a  masked  bat- 
tery of  fieldpieces,  by  which  two  of  her  men  were  killed 
and  four  wounded,  among  the  latter  being  her  com- 
mander (mortally)  and  Captain  Thornton  A.  Jenkins. 

On  the  day  that  Vicksburg  fell  an  overwhelming 
force  of  Confederate  troops  made  a  sudden  attack  on 
the  garrison  of  four  thousand  men,  under  Major- 
General  B.  M.  Prentiss,  at  Helena,  Having  broken 
through  the  National  center,  the  Confederates  were 
pressing  down  a  hillside,  confident  of  capturing  the 
post.  At  this  moment  Lieutenant-Commander  James 
M.  Pritchett,  commanding  the  Tyler,  took  a  position 
where  his  guns  bore  on  the  enemy  and  then  opened  a 
terrific  fire.  "  The  slaughter  of  the  enemy  at  this  time 
was  terrible,  and  all  unite  in  describing  the  horrors  of 
that  hillside  and  the  ravines  after  the  battle  as  baffling 
description,  the  killed  being  literally  torn  to  pieces  by 
shell,  and  the  avenging  fire  of  the  gunboat  pursued  the 
enemy  two  or  three  miles  to  his  reserve  forces,  creating 
a  panic  there  which  added  not  a  little  to  the  end  of 
victory."1  The  enemy  was  repelled  with  a  loss  of  four 

1  Official  report  of  Lieutenant-Commander  S.  Ledyard  Phelps. 


382  THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED.  1864. 

hundred  killed  and  eleven  hundred  prisoners.  This 
was  the  third  instance  in  which  this  gallant  little  gun- 
boat figured  prominently  in  retrieving  the  fortunes  of 
the  Union  army — first  at  Belmont,  again  at  Pittsburg 
Landing  and  finally  at  Helena.  Shortly  afterward  the 
De  Kalb,  while  ascending  Yazoo  River,  was  sunk  by 
a  torpedo.  A  month  before  this,  June  6th,  the  Choc- 
taw,  Lieutenant-Commander  Ramsay,  rendered  ma- 
terial assistance  in  routing  the  Confederates  after  their 
successful  attack  on  a  brigade  of  negro  troops  at  Mil- 
liken's  Bend.  About  six  weeks  later  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Thomas  O.  Selfridge,  Jr.,  entered  Red  River 
and  proceeded  up  Tensas  River  as  far  as  Tensas  Lake, 
and  by  Ouachita  River  reached  Harrisonburg,  destroy- 
ing much  public  property  and  four  steamers.  In  Au- 
gust, Lieutenant  Bache  went  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  up  White  River  with  the  gunboats  Lexington, 
Cricket  and  Marmora.  The  Cricket  went  forty  miles 
up  Little  Red  River  and  returned,  having  one  man 
killed  and  eight  wounded  by  sharpshooters. 

Early  in  March,  1864,  Rear- Admiral  Porter  accom- 
panied General  Banks'  expedition  against  Shreveport 
up  Red  River,  with  the  following  gunboats  :  Essex, 
Commander  Robert  Townseud  ;  Eastport,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  S.  Ledyard  Phelps  ;  Black  Hawk,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander K.  Randolph  Breese  ;  Lafayette, 
Lieutenant-Commander  James  P.  Foster  ;  Benton, 
Lieutenant-Commander  James  A.  Greer ;  Louisville, 
Lieutenant-Commander  Elias  K.  Owen ;  Carondelet, 
Lieutenant-Commander  John  G.  Mitchell ;  Osage,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Thomas  O.  Selfridge,  Jr. ;  Ouachita, 
Lieutenant-Commander  Byron  Wilson ;  Lexington, 
Lieutenant  George  M.  Bache ;  Chillicothe,  Acting- 
Volunteer-Lieutenant  Joseph  Couthony ;  Pittsburgh, 
Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  WilliarnR.  Hoel;  Mound 
City,  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  Amos  R.  Lang- 
thorne  ;  Neosho,  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  Samuel 
Howard  ;  Ozark,  Acting-Master  George  W.  Browne ; 


1864.  RED  RIVER  EXPEDITION.  383 

Fort  Hindman,  Acting- Volunteer- Lieu  tenant  John 
Pearce  ;  Cricket,  Acting-Master  Henry  H.  Gorringe  ; 
Gazelle,  Acting- Master  Charles  Thatcher.  This  magni- 
ficent flotilla,  with  a  large  fleet  of  transports,  began  the 
ascent  of  Red  River  on  the  12th  of  March.  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Phelps,  with  the  lighter  gunboats,  forcing 
his  way  through  the  obstructions  eight  miles  below 
Fort  De  Russy,  arrived  opposite  that  place  on  the  14th, 
and  dropped  a  few  shells  just  before  the  fort  was  car- 
ried by  troops  who  had  marched  from  Sirnmesport. 

The  expedition  reached  Alexandria  on  the  loth  and 
the  16th,  where  a  garrison  was  established,  and  Porter, 
with  the  Cricket,  the  Fort  Hindman,  the  Lexington, 
the  Osage,  the  Neosho  and  the  CTiillicothe,  pressed  for- 
ward, and  in  spite  of  the  low  water  and  extremely  diffi- 
cult navigation  reached  Springfield  Landing  on  the  10th 
of  April.  There  he  learned  that  the  National  troops 
had  been  checked  at  Pleasant  Hill  and  were  retreating, 
which  compelled  the  gunboats  to  begin  their  difficult 
retreat  of  four  hundred  miles  in  the  heart  of  the  ene- 
my's country.  On  the  12th  of  April  two  thousand  Con- 
federate troops  made  a  furious  attack  on  the  Osage,  the 
Lexington  and  six  transports  (the  Osage  and  two  of  the 
transports  being  aground),  but  were  repelled  with  heavy 
loss.  On  the  15th  the  Eastport  was  sunk  by  a  torpedo, 
but  after  great  exertions  by  her  officers  and  crew  she 
was  raised  on  the  21st  and  moved  some  distance  down 
the  stream.  The  vessel  had  been  so  damaged,  however, 
that  on  the  26th  Lieutenant  Phelps  destroyed  her.  At 
this  moment  the  gunboats  accompanying  her — the 
Cricket,  the  Juliet  and  the  Fort  Hindman— and  two 
pump -boats  were  attacked  by  the  Confederates,  but  the 
enemy  was  repelled.  Five  miles  above  Cane  River  these 
vessels  were  roughly  handled  by  a  heavy  battery.  Por- 
ter, being  in  the  Cricket,  made  a  dash  past  the  battery, 
and  although  his  vessel  was  struck  thirty-eight  times 
and  sustained  a  loss  of  twenty-five  killed  or  wounded 
in  a  crew  of  fifty,  he  rejoined  his  squadron.  The  Juliet 


331  THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED.  1864. 

had  fifteen  killed  or  wounded,  and  the  Fort  Hindman 
three  killed  and  five  wounded. 

When  the  vessels  reached  Alexandria  it  was  found 
that  the  water  had  fallen  so  low  that  it  was  impossible 
to  pass  the  rapids.  Destruction  seemed  to  await  this 
magnificent  fleet,  but  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Joseph  Bailey,  and  with  the  assistance  of  sev- 
eral hundred  troops  from  a  Maine  regiment,  a  dam  was 
built  across  the  stream,  and  from  the  9th  to  the  13th  of 
May  the  gunboats  were  passed  over  the  rapids  and 
saved.  For  this  invaluable  service  Bailey  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  Brigadier- General.  The  Pittsburgh,  the 
Mound  City,  the  Louisville,  the  Carondelet  and  the 
OzarTc  were  stripped  of  their  iron  plating,  which,  to- 
gether with  eleven  32-pounders,  was  thrown  into  the 
river.  Before  the  fleet  reach  a  place  of  safety  the 
gunboats  Comngton,  Lieutenant  Lord,  and  Signal, 
Lieutenant  Morgan,  and  the  transport  Warner  were 
attacked,  and  after  a  heroic  defense  they  were  cap- 
tured, the  Comngton  having  had  forty-four  killed, 
wounded  or  missing  out  of  a  complement  of  seventy- 
six  men.  From  this  time  to  the  close  of  the  war  Red 
River  remained  in  Confederate  hands,  but  wras  carefully 
blockaded.  Porter  was  relieved  of  his  command,  and 
Captain  Alexander  M.  Pennock  was  left  in  charge. 

While  stationed  at  Tunica  Bend,  near  Port  Hudson, 
the  tinclad  Naiad,  Ac  ting- Master  Hubbell,  and  the 
General  Bragg  were  suddenly  fired  upon  at  daylight,  x 
June  24th,  by  a  battery  of  6-pounders  that  had  been 
captured  from  General  Banks.  The  National  gunboats 
promptly  responded,  and  for  about  an  hour  maintained 
a  heavy  fire,  when  at  the  approach  of  the  monitor 
Winnebago  the  enemy  fled.  The  General  Bragg  was 
uninjured,  but  the  Naiad  was  badly  cut  up,  having 
her  pilot-house,  armory  and  dispensary  destroyed. 
One  of  her  pilots  was  mortally  wounded,  and  Mr.  Hub- 
bell  was  severely  injured  below  the  right  knee. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1864,  Lieutenant  Bache  left 


1864.  BACHE'S  SPIRITED  ATTACK.  385 

Duval's  Bluff  with  a  number  of  troops  in  transports 
convoyed  by  the  Tyler  and  the  tinclads  Naumkeag 
and  Fawn,  but  before  he  had  gone  twenty  miles  he 
picked  up  two  men  who  had  escaped  from  the  light- 
draught  steamer  Queen  City,  which  had  been  captured 
by  the  Confederates  only  five  hours  before.  Sending 
back  the  transports,  Lieutenant  Bache  formed  his  three 
vessels  in  line  of  battle  and  boldly  attacked  a  battery 
of  seven  field-pieces  and  two  thousand  Confederate 
troops  who  were  advantageously  posted  near  Clarendon. 
Steaming  past  the  battery,  the  Tyler  and  the  Fawn  re- 
ceived shot  in  their  pilot-houses,  and  the  latter's  pilot 
was  killed.  Soon  afterward  another  shot  entered  the 
Fawn's  pilot-house.  The  Tyler  and  Naumkeag,  after 
passing  the  battery,  returned  to  the  assistance  of 
their  consort  and  put  the  enemy  to  flight.  This  was 
the  battery  that  had  taken  the  Queen  City  by  surprise 
and  disabled  her  engines  at  the  first  fire,  and  killed  two 
and  wounded  eight  of  her  men.  The  other  boats  had 
three  killed  and  fifteen  wounded. 

On  the  1st  of  November  Captain  Samuel  Phillips 
Lee  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  Western  flotilla. 
The  removal  of  the  seat  of  war  to  the  east  of  Mis- 
sissippi River  made  the  patrol  of  the  Western  waters 
even  more  hazardous  than  before,  as  roving  bands  of 
guerillas  were  able  to  plant  masked  batteries  along  the 
banks  and  open  fire  on  unsuspecting  gunboats  and  trans- 
ports. Early  in  November  the  Confederates  erected  a 
battery  on  the  upper  Tennessee,  which  cut  off  eight 
transports  and  the  little  gunboats  Key  West,  Elfin  and 
TawaTi,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  King,  from  the  sup- 
port of  the  larger  Union  gunboats  below.  The  gunboat 
Undine  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  and  was 
destroyed.  On  November  4th,  Lieutenant-Commanders 
Shirk  and  Leroy  Fitch  attacked  the  batteries  with 
some  light  gunboats,  while  Lieutenant  King  opened 
fire  from  above ;  but  although  fighting  gallantly  and 
being  repeatedly  struck,  the  gunboats  could  not  dis- 

70 


386  THE   MISSISSIPPI   OPENED.  1864-1865. 

lodge  the  enemy.  To  prevent  his  vessels  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates,  Lieutenant  King 
destroyed  them. 

Acting-Master  Gilbert  Morton,  on  October  28th,  ren- 
dered valuable  assistance  to  the  Union  troops  under 
General  Granger  when  they  were  attacked  by  the  Con- 
federates above  Muscle  Shoals.  On  December  4th,  Fitch, 
with  the  Carondelet  and  the  Fair  play,  opened  an 
effective  fire  on  Hood's  troops  that  were  advancing 
upon  Nashville.  On  the  6th  he  engaged  a  battery  with 
the  Neosho  and  the  Carondelet,  the  former  being  struck 
by  more  than  a  hundred  shot.  Our  gunboats  also 
played  an  important  part  in  the  attack  on  Hood's  army 
on  the  15th,  Lieutenant  Moreau  Forrest  assisting  greatly 
in  cutting  off  the  enemy's  retreat. 

In  April,  1865,  the  Webb,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Charles  W.  Read,  ran  the  blockade  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Red  River  and  attempted  to  get  to  sea  with  a  load 
of  cotton,  and  actually  got  twenty-three  miles  beyond 
New  Orleans  before  she  was  captured.  In  June, 
1865,  the  small  Confederate  naval  force  in  Red  River 
surrendered,  and  on  the  14th  of  August  Captain  Lee 
was  relieved  of  his  command  and  most  of  the  vessels 
of  the  Western  flotilla  were  sold. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ATTACK   ON   THE   WYOMING. 

WHILE  these  stirring  scenes  were  taking  place  In 
the  United  States  an  incident  occurred  in  Japan  which 
was  attended  with  most  serious  circumstances.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war  the  Government  ordered  the 
steam  frigate  Wyoming,  Commander  David  Stockton 
McDougal,  to  cruise  in  Asiatic  waters  and  keep  a 
sharp  lookout  for  Confederate  commerce  destroyers. 
McDougal  entered  the  navy  in  1828,  and  when  Mare 
Island  was  purchased  by  the  Government  for  a  navy 
yard  he  was  in  command  of  the  storeship  Warren  at 
San  Francisco,  Commander  David  Glasgow  Farragut 
being  ordered  to  that  station.  As  the  place  then  was 
destitute  of  quarters  for  officers,  Farragut  and  his 
family  became  the  guests  of  McDougal  aboard  the 
Warren.1  In  1860  McDougal  was  ordered  to  com- 
mand the  Wyoming,  then  at  Panama,  in  place  of  Cap- 
tain John  K.  Mitchell,  who  entered  the  Confederate 
service.  The  Wyoming  was  a  sister  ship  to  the  Kear- 
sarge,  which  also  was  engaged  in  the  same  duty  in 
European  waters.  She  carried  two  11-inch  Dahlgren 
guns  on  pivots  amidship,  and  had  four  32-pounders  in 
the  broadside.  Her  complement  was  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men. 

About  the  time  of  the  Wyoming's  arrival  in  Eastern 
waters  the  edict  of  the  Mikado  of  Japan  expelling 
foreigners  was  in  force.  Availing  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  this  edict  gave  them  to  embroil  the 

1  Mrs.  D.  McDougal  Van  Voorhis  to  the  author. 

387 


388  ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING.  1863. 

Mikado  in  trouble  with  some  foreign  power,  the 
Choshiu  clansmen  began  the  erection  of  batteries  at 
the  Straits  of  Shimonoseki.  "The  Straits  of  Shimono- 
seki form  the  western  entrance  into  the  inland  sea  and 
divide  the  great  islands  of  Hondo  and  Kiushiu.  They 
are  three  miles  long  and  from  one  half  to  one  mile 
wide,  the  navigable  channel  being  from  three  to  seven 
hundred  feet  wide.  The  town,  of  eighteen  thousand 
inhabitants,  consists  chiefly  of  one  very  long  street  at 
the  foot  of  bold  bluffs,  except  that  in  the  center  the 
houses  completely  encircle  and  cover  two  or  three 
small  hills,  and  cluster  thickly  in  a  ravine.  .  .  .  Some 
have  called  it  *  the  Gibraltar  of  the  Japanese  Medi- 
terranean.' The  tide  in  its  ebb  and  flow  runs  like  a 
mill  race  at  the  rate  of  five  miles  an  hour,  and  the 
violent  oscillations  acting  upon  the  numerous  sunken 
rocks  and  shoals  have,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  fur- 
nished an  appalling  list  of  wrecks  and  great  loss  of  life. 
Every  landmark  in  the  region  is  eloquent  or  ominous 
with  traditions  of  gloom.  ...  On  one  of  the  rocky 
ledges  stands  the  monument  of  the  young  Emperor 
Antoku,  drowned  in  the  great  naval  battle  (A.  D.  1185) 
between  the  Genji  and  the  Heike,  the  white  and  red 
flags,  where  possibly  one  thousand  war  ships  fought 
together."1 

On  commanding  bluffs  from  fifty  to  one  hundrecL^ 
feet  high  and  overlooking  this  "terror  to  navigation " 
the  Choshiu  men  erected  seven  batteries  mounting  from 
two  to  seven  guns  each,  mostly  32-pounders,  and  a  few 
12-  and  24-pounders.  Some  of  the  guns  were  8-inch 
Dahlgrens,  a  present  from  our  Government.  Besides 
this  the  warlike  clansmen  had  purchased  the  iron 
steamer  Lancefield,  the  bark  Daniel  Webster  and  the 
brig  LanricJc.  On  the  steamer  they  mounted  four 
guns,  on  the  bark  six  and  on  the  brig  four,  mostly  24- 
pounders. 

1  William  Elliot  Griffis,  in  Century  Magazine. 


1863.  FIRING  ON  FOREIGNERS.  389 

On  June  25,  1863,  the  clansmen  had  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  show  their  power.  On  that  day  the  Ameri- 
can steamer  Pembroke,  from  Yokohama  for  Nagasaki, 
entered  the  straits,  but  instead  of  attempting  the  pas- 
sage when  the  tide  was  in  force,  she  followed  the  cus- 
tom of  dropping  anchor  and  waiting  for  slack  water. 
Soon  after  the  Pembroke  came  to,  the  Daniel  Webster 
moved  by  and  dropped  anchor  a  short  distance  from 
her.  No  suspicions  of  foul  play  seem  to  have  been 
entertained  by  the  master  of  the  Pembroke,  for  he  had 
shown  his  colors,  and  his  pilot  had  been  furnished  by 
the  Government  at  Tokio. 

About  an  hour  after  midnight  the  bark,  without  the 
slightest  warning,  opened  fire  on  the  Pembroke,  and 
soon  the  Lanrick  approached,  her  crew  shouting,  and 
anchoring  near  the  bark,  opened  on  the  steamer. 
Realizing  that  the  Japanese  were  determined  to  sink 
his  vessel,  the  master  of  the  Pembroke  retraced  his 
course  and  eluded  his  assailants.  Complaint  was  made 
to  the  officials  at  Tokio,  and  indemnity  to  the  amount 
of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  demanded  and  paid. 

Two  weeks  after  the  attack  on  the  Pembroke,  or 
July  8th,  the  French  dispatch  boat  Kien-cJiang  an- 
chored at  the  entrance  to  the  straits  to  await  the  turn 
of  the  tide,  just  as  the  American  steamer  had  done. 
Without  warning,  the  batteries  opened  fire,  seven  shot 
taking  effect.  The  Frenchmen  then  lowered  a  boat  to 
inquire  the  reason  for  the  attack,  but  it  had  scarcely 
left  the  ship's  side  when  it  was  sunk  by  a  shot  and 
several  of  the  men  killed.  With  great  difficulty  the 
Kien-chang,  in  a  sinking  condition,  reached  Nagasaki, 
where  the  affair  was  reported  to  the  commander  of  the 
Dutch  cruiser  Medusa,  Captain  de  Cassembroot. 

The  Medusa  approached  the  straits  in  daylight  on 
July  llth.  "No  sooner  was  the  Medusa  opposite  to 
the  brig,  than  the  Lanrick,  which  flew  the  flag  of 
Nagato,  the  bark  Daniel  Webster  and  the  heavy  bat- 
tery of  Sennenji,  mounting  six  guns,  opened  simul- 


390  ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING.  1863. 

taneously.  In  a  few  minutes  the  frigate  was  within 
the  concentrated  fire  of  six  batteries.  What  most 
astonished  the  Hollanders  were  the  projectiles,  such 
size  and  weight  being  undreamed  of.  The  splendid 
abilities  of  the  Japanese  artillerists  and  the  rapidity  of 
their  fire  were  astonishing.  To  find  6-  and  8-inch 
shells  exploding  on  their  ship  was  a  novelty  to  the 
Dutchmen  in  the  Eastern  World,  and  showed  that  the 
Japanese  were  up  to  the  times.  With  his  port  broad- 
side Captain  de  Cassembroot  illustrated  true  'Dutch 
courage'  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  Unable  on  account 
of  his  draft  to  attack  the  ships  directly,  he  passed  on 
his  way.  The  Medusa  was  hit  thirty-one  times.  Seven 
shots  pierced  the  hull,  sending  bolts  and  splinters  in 
showers  about  the  decks.  Three  8-inch  shells  burst  on 
board.  The  long-boat,  cutter  and  smokestack  were 
ruined.  Four  men  were  killed  and  five  wounded."1 
For  this  service — although  it  is  difficult  to  discover  just 
what  service  was  performed — Captain  de  Cassembroot, 
on  his  return  to  Europe,  was  knighted  and  his  crew 
received  medals  of  honor.  The  Medusa  was  a  much 
heavier  war  ship  than  the  Wyoming. 

Nine  days  after  this  the  French  gunboat  Tancrede 
while  swiftly  steaming  through  the  straits  was  fired 
upon  and  struck  three  times  ;  and  not  long  afterward  a 
Japanese  steamer — mistaken  for  a  foreigner — was  at- 
tacked, burned  and  sunk  by  the  batteries,  the  bodies 
of  nine  officers  and  nineteen  seamen  who  were  killed 
being  swept  out  to  sea. 

This  firing  on  unsuspecting  vessels  from  a  safe  emi- 
nence of  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet,  of  course,  was  great 
sport  for  the  Choshiu  clansmen,  but  their  day  of  reck- 
oning was  coming.  The  word  "reckoning"  having 
been  ascribed  by  our  English  cousins  as  being  charac- 
teristically Yankee,  we  need  feel  no  surprise  in  finding 
the  avenger  to  be  the  American  war  craft  Wyoming. 

1  William  Elliot  Griffis,  in  Century  Magazine. 


1863.  McDOUGAL  IN  ACTION.  391 

Commander  McDougal  was  a  true  American  sea- 
man. He  was  a  man  who  did  not  know  what  fear 
was,  which,  combined  with  a  clear  insight  into  the 
motives  for  action,  made  an  ideal  officer.  He  was  a 
contemporary  of  Rear- Admirals  John  Rodgers,  Middle- 
ton,  Alden  and  Case.  While  on  board  the  Natchez, 
in  the  harbor  of  Pensacola,  engaged  in  surveying,  he 
gave  an  exhibition  of  dauntless  courage  which  was  a 
marked  characteristic  all  his  life.  The  bay  at  the  time 
was  alive  with  sharks,  especially  around  the  ship, 
where  they  swarmed  ready  to  snatch  the  mess  refuse 
thrown  overboard.  One  day  the  cry  "Man  over- 
board ! "  startled  the  ship's  company.  Without  hesi- 
tation McDougal  whipped  off  his  coat,  jumped  into 
the  water,  and  managed  to  keep  the  man  afloat  and 
fight  off  the  sharks  until  a  boat  came  to  the  rescue.1 

When  the  news  of  the  attack  on  the  Pembroke 
reached  Commander  McDougal  he  was  under  orders  to 
return  home  with  the  Wyoming,  but  this  affair  deter- 
mined him  in  proceeding  immediately  to  the  scene  of 
hostilities.  Accordingly  he  dropped  anchor  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  straits  on  the  evening  of  July  15th, 
having  first  learned  that  the  Lancefield  drew  no  more 
water  than  his  ship.  Early  the  next  morning  the 
Wyoming  rounded  a  point  of  land,  when  one  of  the 
batteries  opened  fire,  the  first  shot  striking  the  ship 
just  above  the  engine  room,  cutting  away  some  rigging 
— ample  evidence  of  the  accuracy  of  Japanese  gunners. 
Making  no  reply  to  this,  the  Wyoming  steamed  on 
until  she  rounded  another  promontory,  when  she  came 
in  full  sight  of  the  town  and  within  long  range  of  all 
the  batteries  and  the  Japanese  war  ships. 

Then  began  the  serious  work  of  the  day.  The 
shrewd  American  commander  had  noticed  a  line  of 
stakes  driven  into  the  mud,  evidently  marking  the  edge 


1  Mrs.  D.   McDougal  Van  Voorhis  (daughter  of  Rear-Admiral  Mc- 
Dougal) to  the  author. 


392  ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING.  1863. 

of  the  main  channel.  Rightly  guessing  that  the  enemy 
had  long  got  the  precise  range  of  this  water  way,  Mc- 
Dougal  ordered  his  pilots  to  take  his  ship  toward  the 
northern  shore,  close  under  the  batteries  on  that  side. 
The  Daniel  Webster  was  anchored  close  to  the  town, 
the  Lanrick  about  fifty  yards  beyond,  and  a  length 
ahead  and  near  her  was  the  Lancefield.  All  these 
vessels  were  rigged  with  kedge  anchors  and  grappling 
irons  at  their  yardarms  ready  to  close  on  the  Wyo- 
ming and  carry  her  by  boarding.  Their  decks  were 
crowded  with  men,  shouting  and  defying  the  Ameri- 
cans to  come  on. 

Making  directly  for  these  vessels,  McDougal  shook 
out  his  colors  but  reserved  his  fire,  intending  to  attack 
the  vessels  first  and  give  his  attention  to  the  batteries 
afterward.  The  sight  of  the  American  flags  seemed  to 
have  acted  like  oil  on  the  fire,  for  now  the  Japanese 
opened  from  other  batteries  with  savage  ferocity.  Mc- 
Dougal's  shift  from  the  main  channel  somewhat  dis- 
concerted their  plans,  as  seen  by  the  fact  that  most  of 
their  shot  took  effect  in  the  Wyoming's  rigging.  Ob- 
serving a  good  opportunity  to  deliver  a  few  blows, 
McDougal  opened  with  his  pivots  and  starboard  guns, 
and  with  such  effect  that  one  battery  was  torn  to 
pieces  and  silenced  at  the  first  broadside. 

Keeping  steadily  on  for  the  ships,  the  Wyoming 
when  nearly  abreast  of  the  squadron  was  fired  upon 
by  the  Daniel  Webster,  by  which  two  men,  William 
Clark  and  George  Watson,  who  were  stationed  near 
the  Wyoming's  anchor,  were  killed,  the  latter  by  a 
chain  shot.  About  the  same  time  a  shot  from  one  of 
the  batteries  came  aboard  and  killed  a  marine  sta- 
tioned at  the  gangway.  The  Americans  were  now  fir- 
ing from  every  gun  in  the  ship,  and  with  splendid 
effect,  as  was  shown  by  the  clouds  of  earth  and  broken 
gun  mountings  that  were  hurled  into  the  air. 

Aided  by  the  strong  tide  the  Wyoming  swiftly 
passed  down  the  straits,  so  that  the  Japanese  gunners 


1863.  SINKING  THE  LANCEFIELD.  393 

in  the  ships,  although  firing  with  admirable  rapidity, 
could  discharge  no  more  than  three  broadsides.  One 
of  their  shells  killed  all  the  crew  of  the  forward  32- 
pounder  excepting  three  men.  The  captain  of  the 
gun,  William  Thompson,  had  his  left  arm  torn  off. 
Observing  that  the  tackle  of  this  gun  had  been  carried 
away,  one  of  the  American  seamen,  Charles  J.  Murphy, 
though  badly  wounded,  bent  on  new  tackle  and  fought 
the  gun  short-handed  until  Lieutenant  Barton  sent  him 
a  few  men  from  the  pivot  gun.  About  that  time  Bar- 
ton's sword-guard  was  struck  by  a  piece  of  shell  and 
bent  out  of  shape. 

The  Wyoming  had  now  passed  the  ships,  when  she 
rounded  to  with  the  intention  of  making  a  target  of 
them,  but  at  this  critical  juncture  she  ran  aground 
where  six  batteries  and  the  squadron  could  concentrate 
their  fire  upon  her,  and  for  a  moment  it  looked  very 
much  like  defeat.  The  Lancefield  was  now  observed 
to  slip  her  cable  and  steam  over  to  the  northern  shore, 
probably  with  a  view  of  gathering  headway  for  ram- 
ming the  helpless  American.  Realizing  the  danger, 
McDougal  directed  all  his  attention  to  the  steamer, 
hoping  to  disable  her  before  she  could  do  the  threat- 
ened mischief. 

Meantime  the  Wyoming's  engines  had  been  re- 
versed, and  after  a  powerful  effort  she  was  backed 
clear  of  the  mud  and  into  deep  water.  Manoeuvring 
as  well  as  the  five-knot  current  and  sunken  rocks 
would  admit  of,  McDougal  got  his  two  pivot  guns  into 
play  on  the  Lancefield,  and  soon  11-inch  shells  were 
doing  their  awful  work  on  the  hull  of  the  steamer.  The 
second  carefully  aimed  shell  from  the  forward  pivot 
gun  crashed  through  the  side  of  the  Lancefield,  one 
foot  above  the  water  line,  pierced  the  boiler,  and  came 
out  on  the  other  side,  tearing  a  great  hole  in  the  hull. 
As  if  not  satisfied  with  this  work,  the  shell  speeded 
over  the  water  and  exploded  in  the  town  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  away. 


394:  ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING.  1863. 

In  an  instant  the  Lancefield  was  enveloped  in  a  mass 
of  steam,  smoke,  flame  and  cinders.  A  native  boat  put 
off  from  her  side  with  a  crowd  of  men,  while  scores  of 
other  men  threw  themselves  into  the  sea.  Two  more 
shells  were  then  sent  into  the  Lancefield  to  insure  her 
destruction.  The  pivot  guns  were  then  turned  on  the 
Daniel  Webster,  which  ship  had  been  keeping  up  a 
destructive  fire.  A  few  well-directed  shells  settled  her 
fate,  and  she  followed  the  Lancefield  to  the  bottom. 
McDougal  was  now  able  to  devote  his  entire  energy  to 
the  shore  batteries.  He  deliberately  retraced  his  course 
through  the  straits,  keeping  up  a  most  effective  fire,  so 
much  so  that,  although  greatly  exposed,  his  vessel  was 
scarcely  injured. 

After  passing  the  last  battery  and  getting  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  Japanese  guns  the  Wyoming  came  to 
and  the  men  had  time  to  count  their  losses.  The  ac- 
tion had  lasted  just  one  hour  and  ten  minutes,  in  which 
time  the  ship  had  been  struck  more  than  twenty  times, 
ten  shot  having  pierced  her  hull.  Six  holes  were  found 
in  the  smokestack,  four  shot  had  taken  effect  in  both 
main  and  fore  masts  and  the  rigging  was  badly  injured. 
The  ship  had  fired  fifty-five  rounds,  or  nearly  one  for 
every  minute  of  the  action.  Six  men  were  killed  and 
four  wounded.  A  coal  heaver  named  Michael  Lynch 
had  both  legs  taken  off  below  the  knees.  He  walked 
half  the  length  of  the  deck  and  complained  of  his  "  toes 
hurting  him*"  before  he  died.  Four  days  later  the 
French  frigate  Semiramis  and  gunboat  Tancrede  en- 
tered the  straits,  and  after  landing  a  detachment  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men  captured  the  batteries. 

Speaking  of  this  brilliant  action,  Griffis  says:  "To 
the  Choshiu  clansmen,  brave  and  capable  as  they  them- 
selves were,  it  seemed  as  though  McDougal  possessed 
more  than  human  nerve  in  thus  running  his  vessel  into 
the  fierce  fire  which  they  had  prepared  for  him.  Long 
afterward  they  spoke  respectfully  of  the  'American 
devils.'  They  had  fought  the  Dutch  frigate,  and  four 


1863.  McDOUGAL'S  PLUCK.  395 

days  later  were  chastised  at  one  point  by  the  French, 
but  neither  of  these  combats,  carried  on  in  mid-chan- 
nel at  long  range,  or  by  a  charge  after  the  single  bat- 
tery had  been  emptied  by  long  bombardment,  so  im- 
pressed the  thinking  men  of  Japan's  most  intellectual 
clan  as  that  of  the  commander  of  a  single  ship  coolly 
and  of  choice  meeting  such  overwhelming  odds  at  close 
quarters  and  winning  so  surprising  a  victory.  The 
Choshiu  men  were  noted  for  their  thinking  and  for  the 
power  of  profiting  by  their  reverses,  and  this  time  their 
profit  was  great. 

"Yet  this  act  of  McDougal  was  not  a  mere  'run- 
ning amuck,'  a  rash  plunge  ;  it  was  as  cool  and  scien- 
tific a  movement,  albeit  one  requiring  as  much  nerve 
and  courage,  as  Cushing's  attack  on  the  Albemarle. 
With  Japanese  prison  cages  and  torture  all  foreigners 
in  Japan  of  that  day  were  acquainted  by  daily  report. 
Even  casual  walks  around  Yokohama  had  made  the 
American  officers  familiar  with  the  pillories  near  the 
blood  pits,  which  were  almost  daily  decorated  with  hu- 
man heads.  Besides,  it  had  been  immemorial  law  and 
custom  for  the  beaten  party  in  Japan  to  perform  Tiara- 
Mri ;  or,  failing,  to  suffer  decapitation.  It  was  a  clear 
knowledge  of  these  facts  that  led  McDougal,  while 
shrinking  from  nothing  within  the  bounds  of  possibil- 
ity, to  give  an  order  not  mentioned  in  his  amazingly 
modest  official  report.  He  had  only  a  few  days  before 
seen  the  American  flag  hauled  down  and  the  legation 
of  the  United  States  driven  from  the  capital,  and  this 
was  humiliation  enough  for  McDougal.  Hence  he  de- 
termined neither  to  see  nor  to  have  the  like  thing  done 
on  the  ship  he  commanded.  If  boarded  or  overwhelmed, 
or  made  helpless  by  grounding  or  a  shot  in  the  boilers, 
it  was  his  deliberate  purpose  to  blow  up  the  ship  and 
all  on  board,  the  officer  of  the  powder  division  being 
instructed  to  that  effect." 

Speaking  of  this  action,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  a  private  interview,  said, 


396  ATTACK  ON  THE  WYOMING.  1863. 

"Had  that  action  occurred  at  any  other  time  than  dur- 
ing the  civil  war  its  fame  would  have  been  echoed  all 
over  the  world."  During  her  protracted  search  for  the 
Alabama  in  Eastern  seas  the  Wyoming  experienced 
the  usual  covert  hostility  on  the  part  of  British  fort 
officials.  On  one  occasion,  when  entering  Singapore, 
she  was  mistaken  for  the  famous  Confederate  cruiser, 
the  result  being  that  every  courtesy  was  shown  to  her, 
the  English  merchants  "sending  files  of  late  papers, 
flowers,  etc."1 

Commander  Charles  J.  McDougal,  the  only  son  of 
McDougal,  was  drowned  March  28, 1881,  when  off  Cape 
Meudocino  serving  as  a  lighthouse  inspector. 

The  executive  officer  of  the  Wyoming  in  this  affair 
was  Lieutenant  George  W.  Young ;  Lieutenant  William 
Barton,  navigator,  was  in  charge  of  the  forward  divis- 
ion of  guns,  and  Acting- Master  John  C.  Mills  com- 
manded the  after  division ;  E.  R.  Denby  was  surgeon, 
George  Cochran  paymaster  (now  pay  director),  Philip 
Inch  (now  chief  engineer)  was  engineer  and  Walter 
Pierce  was  ensign. 

1  Mrs.  D.  McDougal  Van  Voorhis  to  the  author. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OFF   MOBILE  BAY. 

IN  the  earlier  part  of  the  civil  war  Mobile  Bay  was 
far  removed  from  the  more  active  naval  operations  in 
the  Gulf,  and  nothing  disturbed  the  quiet  of  that  im- 
portant seaport  except  the  occasional  rush  of  the  swift 
ocean  racers  that  stole  past  the  blockading  squadron 
and  attempted  to  gain  the  harbor.  Three  large  rivers 
entered  this  bay,  giving  unusual  facilities  for  reaching 
the  interior,  and  made  Mobile  the  second  port  of  the 
Confederacy.  The  enemy  kept  up  water  communica- 
tions with  New  Orleans  by  means  of  Mississippi  Sound 
until  the  capture  of  the  steamer  Anna,  early  in  De- 
cember, 1861,  and  soon  afterward  that  of  the  P.  C. 
Wallace  by  the  National  gunboat  New  London,  made 
this  route  too  hazardous. 

The  first  active  fighting  before  Mobile  occurred  on 
the  29th  of  January,  1862,  when  the  schooner  Wilder, 
with  a  valuable  cargo  from  Havana,  was  chased  ashore 
while  flying  British  colors.  As  the  National  boats 
were  removing  the  cargo  a  company  of  Confederate 
rangers,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Cottrill,  has- 
tened down  from  Mobile,  opened  a  brisk  fire,  and 
drove  off  the  launches  with  a  loss  of  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  killed  or  wounded.  In  the  night  the  gunboats 
towed  off  the  Wilder.  On  the  following  28th  of  June 
the  British  steamer  Ann,  from  St.  Thomas,  laden  with 
a  valuable  cargo  of  war  materials,  attempted  to  run 
the  blockade  under  cover  of  darkness,  but  was  chased 
ashore.  Her  crew  escaped  after  endeavoring  to  scuttle 
the  steamer,  but  her  water-tight  compartments  kept  her 

397 


308  OFF   MOBILE   BAY.  1862-1864. 

afloat  and  she  was  captured  by  the  gunboats.  August 
30th  the  Winona  exchanged  a  few  shells  with  Fort 
Morgan,  without  much  injury  to  either  side,  and  on 
Christmas  eve,  1862,  the  Florida,  which  had  run  into 
the  port  on  September  4th,  opened  a  long-distance  can- 
nonade with  the  New  London  near  Sand  Island. 

When  New  Orleans  fell,  in  April,  1862,  the  Confed- 
erates fully  believed  that  the  next  point  of  attack 
would  be  Mobile,  and  they  hastened  their  preparations 
accordingly.  Realizing  the  importance  of  this  port, 
the  authorities  at  Richmond,  early  in  1863,  ordered 
Admiral  Franklin  Buchanan,  who  commanded  the 
Merrimac  on  the  first  day  of  her  celebrated  battle  in 
Hampton  Roads,  to  take  command  of  the  naval  forces 
in  Mobile  Bay.  In  the  spring  of  1863  five  gunboats 
were  in  course  of  construction  under  the  direction  of 
Commander  Ebenezer  Farrand,  at  Selma,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  up  the  Alabama  River,  which  at  that 
time  was  the  largest  naval  station  in  the  South.  The 
ablest  engineers  in  the  Confederacy  were  engaged  in 
the  construction  of  these  vessels.  In  the  winter  of 
1863-'64  the  ram  Tennessee,  the  most  formidable  iron- 
clad completed  by  the  South,  was  built  at  SeJma.  The 
Tennessee  was  of  the  type  of  the  Merrimac,  but  im- 
proved. She  was  two  hundred  and  nine  feet  over 
all,  had  forty-eight  feet  beam,  and  drew  over  thirteen 
feet  of  water.  Her  casemate,  which  rose  eight  feet 
above  the  deck,  was  placed  amidships  and  sloped  at 
an  angle  of  thirty-three  degrees  to  the  deck.  It  was 
seventy-eight  feet  and  eight  inches  long  by  twenty- 
nine  feet  wide,  inside  measurement,  and  was  constructed 
of  yellow-pine  beams  thirteen  inches  thick,  placed  ver- 
tically. Over  this  were  five  and  a  half  inches  of  the 
same  wood  in  horizontal  courses,  and  on  top  of  that 
four  inches  of  oak  in  vertical  courses.  Within,  the  case- 
mate was  sheathed  with  two  and  a  half  inches  of  oak. 

Over  this  twenty-five  inches  of  solid  wood  back- 
ing were  laid  five  inches  of  iron  plating  on  the  sides 


1863-1864.  BUILDING  THE  TENNESSEE.  399 

and  stern,  and  six  inches  at  the  forward  end  of  the 
casemate.  These  plates  were  of  the  toughest  malle- 
able iron,  made  at  the  Atlanta  rolling-mills,  two  inches 
thick,  seven  inches  wide,  and  twenty-one  feet  long ; 
but  where  the  plating  was  only  five  inches  deep  there 
was  a  single  layer  of  plates  one  inch  thick.  This  plat- 
ing was  secured  by  iron  bolts  having  a  diameter  of  one 
inch  and  a  quarter,  which  ran  entirely  through  the 
wood  backing  and  were  fastened  on  the  inside  of  the 
casemate  with  nuts  and  washers.  The  pilot-house  was 
formed  by  carrying  the  forward  end  of  the  casemate 
two  feet  higher,  and  was  pierced  with  slits  so  as  to  en- 
able the  line  of  vision  to  extend  on  all  sides.  The  top 
of  the  casemate  and  pilot-house  were  covered  with 
heavy  iron  grating,  while  the  deck  outside  the  case- 
mate was  protected  by  two  inches  of  iron.  As  an  ad- 
ditional protection,  netting  was  stretched  along  the 
four  sides  of  the  casemate  within  to  prevent  splinters 
from  injuring  the  gun-crews. 

The  iron-plated  casemate  extended  two  feet  below 
the  water  line,  and  was  then  bent  at  the  same  angle  so 
as  to  meet  the  hull  seven  feet  below  water,  thus  form- 
ing a  solid  knuckle  ten  feet  thick,  which  protected  the 
hull  from  ramming.  This  knuckle  was  carried  all 
around  the  ship,  and,  being  covered  with  four  inches 
of  iron,  it  made  a  formidable  ram  at  the  bow.  Massive 
sliding  shutters  five  inches  thick  covered  the  gun  ports 
when  the  guns  were  run  in.  This  formidable  craft  was 
armed  with  one  7-inch  Brooke  rifled  gun  in  the  bow 
and  one  in  the  stern,  and  on  each  broadside  she  carried 
two  6.4-inch  rifled  guns  which  were  cast  in  the  foundry 
at  Selma,  under  the  supervision  of  Commander  Catesby 
ap  Rogers  Jones.  The  command  of  this  vessel  was 
given  to  Commander  James  D.  Johnston. 

The  two  defective  points  about  the  Tennessee  were 
her  low  speed  and  exposed  steering-gear.  Her  high- 
pressure  engines  were  designed  for  a  river  steamer,  and 
on  her  trial  trip  in  March  she  made  only  six  knots  an 


400  OFF  MOBILE  BAY.  1864. 

hour.  Her  steering-gear  was  laid  outside  the  casemate 
and  was  exposed  to  an  enemy's  shot.  But  these  de- 
fects were  owing  to  the  lack  of  facilities  for  construc- 
tions of  this  kind.  In  his  official  report  Admiral  Bu- 
chanan says  :  "I  seriously  felt  the  want  of  experienced 
officers  during  the  action."  The  crew,  as  finally  brought 
together,  consisted  of  eighteen  officers  and  one  hundred 
and  ten  men. 

The  conditions  under  which  this  craft  was  built 
were  singularly  like  those  under  which  the  brigs  Law- 
rence and  Niagara  were  constructed  by  Master-Com- 
mandant Oliver  Hazard  Perry  on  Lake  Erie  in  1813. 
In  both  cases  the  vessels  were  literally  hewn  out  of  the 
forest,  and  as  the  brigs  had  to  be  lifted  over  the  bar  at 
Presque  Isle,  or  Erie,  on  camels,  so  it  became  neces- 
sary to  raise  the  Tennessee  five  feet  in  order  to  get  her 
over  the  bar  at  Dog  River,  where  there  were  only  nine 
feet  of  water.  The  Southern  papers  expressed  the  im- 
patience of  the  people  at  these  delays  in  harsh  criti- 
cisms, and  were  daily  urging  Admiral  Buchanan  to 
attack  the  National  fleet.  After  great  exertions  the 
timber  for  the  floats  was  sawed  out  of  the  forest,  ten 
miles  up  the  river,  and  floated  down  to  Mobile,  but  just 
before  they  were  ready  for  use  they  were  destroyed  by 
fire,  and  the  tedious  operation  had  to  be  repeated. 

Besides  the  Tennessee  the  Confederates  had  three 
gunboats,  which  took  a  share  in  the  battle  of  August 
5th.  They  were  unarmored  except  around  the  boilers 
and  machinery.  The  first  of  these  was  the  side-wheel 
steamer  Morgan,  Lieutenant  George  W.  Harrison, 
mounting  two  7-inch  rifled  guns  and  four  32-pounders. 
The  Gaines,  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Bennett,  also  was  a  side- 
wheel  steamer,  and  mounted  one  8-inch  rifled  gun  and 
five  32-pounders.  The  Selma,  Lieutenant  Peter  U. 
Murphy,  was  an  open-deck  steamer  mounting  one  6- 
inch,  two  9-inch  and  one  8-inch  smooth-bore  shell  guns. 
The  last  was  a  heavily  built  steamer,  but  the  other  two 
were  entirely  unsuited  for  war  purposes. 


1864.  A  NIGHT  ATTACK  ATTEMPTED.  401 

It  was  Admiral  Buchanan's  intention  to  take  the 
blockading  ships  by  surprise.  The  night  of  May  18th 
was  selected  for  the  attack,  and,  having  been  buoyed 
up,  the  ram  was  taken  in  tow  by  two  steamers,  one 
containing  her  coal  and  the  other  her  ammunition,  and 
carried  over  the  bar  and  down  the  bay  toward  the  Na- 
tional fleet.  All  haste  was  made  to  prepare  her  for  the 
fight,  and  while  she  was  being  towed  down  the  channel 
her  crew  was  busily  engaged  in  taking  on  board  her 
coal  and  ammunition.  According  to  the  programme 
laid  out  by  the  Southern  papers,  the  Tennessee  was  to 
destroy  the  fleet  off  Mobile  Bay,  immediately  capture 
Fort  Pickens  at  Pensacola,  and  then  proceed  north- 
ward or  to  New  Orleans.  It  was  midnight  before 
the  vessels  reached  a  point  down  the  bay  where  there 
was  sufficient  water  to  float  the  Tennessee,  but  the  tide 
had  fallen  so  low  that  when  the  floats  were  cast  off  the 
ram  was  found  to  be  hard  and  fast  aground.  Before 
she  could  be  got  off  daylight  revealed  her  to  the  Union 
fleet,  and  the  advantage  of  taking  it  by  surprise  was 
lost.  When  the  next  tide  floated  the  Tennessee  she 
was  carried  down  the  channel  and  anchored  under  the 
guns  of  Fort  Morgan,  where  she  remained  until  the  5th 
of  August,  her  crew  improving  the  interim  with  daily 
practice  at  the  great  guns. 

Returning  from  a  brief  visit  in  the  North,  where  he 
had  been  resting  after  his  brillliant  cervices  in  Missis- 
sippi River,  Farragut  resumed  command  of  the  Gulf 
squadron  January  18,  1864,  the  senior  officer  of  the 
blockading  squadron  off  Mobile  at  that  time  being  Cap- 
tain Thornton  A.  Jenkins,  of  the  Richmond.  On  the 
20th  of  January,  Farragut,  in  the  Octorara,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Lowe,  with  the  Itasca  in  company,  made 
a  reconnoissance  in  Mobile  Bay,  and  reported  that  "if 
I  had  one  ironclad  I  could  destroy  their  whole  force." 
Early  in  the  year  Farragut  visited  the  several  stations 
of  his  extensive  command,  using  a  light  river  steamer 
called  the  Tennessee  as  his  flagship ;  but  from  the 

71 


402  OFF  MOBILE  BAY.  1864. 

middle  of  May  he  spent  most  of  his  time  off  Mobile. 
He  had  heard  many  rumors  regarding  the  strength  of 
its  land  and  water  defenses,  and,  knowing  that  the 
Confederates  were  strengthening  them  by  every  means 
in  their  power  from  day  to  day,  he  was  anxious  to 
make  his  attack  early  in  the  spring;  but  the  Red 
River  expedition  drew  away  the  only  available  troops, 
and  the  ironclads  necessary  for  the  attack  on  Mobile 
did  not  arrive  until  late  in  the  summer.  He  wrote  re- 
peatedly to  the  Government,  begging  that  at  least  "  one 
of  the  many  ironclads  that  are  off  Charleston  and  in 
the  Mississippi,"  and  a  few  thousand  troops,  might  be 
placed  under  his  orders. 

By  August  the  defenses  of  Mobile  were  among  the 
most  formidable  in  the  South.  A  brick  fort  on  Dau- 
phin Island,  called  Fort  Gaines,  built  on  the  ruins  of 
Fort  Tombigbee,  defended  by  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  men  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Charles  D. 
Anderson,  mounted  three  10-inch  columbiads,  four  32- 
pounder  rifled  guns,  and  twenty  smooth-bore  guns 
of  32,  24  and  18-pound  calibers.  Fort  Powell  com- 
manded the  principal  pass  to  Mississippi  Sound,  and 
mounted  one  10-inch  and  one  8-inch  columbiad  and 
four  rifled  guns.  The  principal  fortification  was  Fort 
Morgan,  which  was  an  old-fashioned  pentagonal  brick 
work,  mounting  its  guns  in  three  tiers  with  a  full 
scarp  brick  wall  four  feet  eight  inches  thick,  the  entire 
front  being  protected  by  enormous  piles  of  sand-bags. 
This  fort  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  little  redoubt 
called  Fort  Bowyer,  which  repelled  the  British  fleet  in 
1814  with  the  loss  of  the  war  ship  Hermes  and  two  hun- 
dred men.  Fort  Morgan  proper  mounted  seven  10-inch, 
three  8-inch  and  twenty-two  32-pounder  smooth-bore 
guns,  and  two  8-inch,  two  6.5-inch  and  four  5.82-inch 
rifled  guns.  The  exterior  batteries  mounted  four  10- 
inch  columbiads,  one  8-inch  rifled  gun  and  two  rifled 
32-pounders.  Within  the  fort  was  a  citadel,  loopholed 
for  musketry,  the  brick  walls  being  four  feet  thick. 


1864.  DEFENSES  OF  MOBILE.  403 

This  fort  was  commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Rich- 
ard L.  Page,  who  had  six  hundred  and  forty  men. 

From  Fort  Gaines  to  the  edge  of  the  ship  channel 
was  a  double  line  of  stakes,  the  heads  of  which  were 
just  visible  at  low  water,  which  prevented  light-draught 
steamers  from  entering  the  bay.  Across  the  ship  chan- 
nel the  Confederates  had  planted  a  double  row  of  tor- 
pedoes, extending  from  the  western  edge  of  the  ship 
channel  to  within  three  hundred  feet  of  the  water  bat- 
tery at  Fort  Morgan,  the  termination  of  the  line  being 
indicated  by  a  red  buoy.  This  passage  was  left  clear 
for  blockade-runners.  Forty- six  of  these  torpedoes 
were  lager-beer  kegs  filled  with  powder.  Four  or  five 
sensitive  primers  were  placed  on  the  upper  side,  which 
would  be  exploded  by  a  vessel  striking  them.  One 
hundred  and  thirty-four  of  the  torpedoes  were  tins 
shaped  like  a  truncated  cone,  the  lower  part  being 
filled  with  powder,  and  the  upper  part  used  as  an  air- 
chamber  for  floating  the  machine.  They  were  an- 
chored with  old  grate  bars.  The  torpedo  would  be 
exploded  by  a  passing  vessel  knocking  off  a  cast- 
iron  cap  which  pulled  the  trigger.  There  were  also 
nine  submarine  mortar  batteries  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, under  the  direction  of  Brigadier- General  G.  J. 
Rains,  and  three  of  them  were  completed  to  close  the 
ship  channel.1  Lieutenant-Commander  Jouett  and 
Lieutenant  Watson  spent  some  time  in  dragging  for 
the  torpedoes.  They  were  about  seven  feet  under 
water,  the  fuse  being  on  the  upper  point  of  the  cone. 
One  of  these  fuses  was  sent  to  Farragut.  He  placed 
it  on  his  cabin  table,  but,  rolling  off,  it  fell  to  the  deck 
and  exploded.  "Young  man,"  said  Farragut  to  the 
person  who  sent  the  fuse,  "don't  send  any  more  of 
those  infernal  machines  to  me.  When  it  exploded  I 
thought  some  one  had  shot  me." 

The  Confederates  made  more  than  one  attempt  to 

1  Official  report  of  Brigadier-General  Rains. 


404:  OFF  MOBILE   BAY.  1864. 

inflict  injury  on  the  blockading  squadron  off  Mobile. 
Lieutenant  James  McC.  Baker  and  his  brother,  Page 
M.  Baker,  offered  to  go  out  in  a  boat  on  a  dark  night 
with  a  spar  torpedo.  Having  selected  the  ship,  Lieu- 
tenant Baker  was  to  keep  the  boat  in  position  while 
his  brother  was  to  dive  overboard  and  explode  a  tor- 
pedo under  the  ship's  water  line.  The  capture  of  the 
Creole  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Pickens  by  these  young 
officers,  and  their  other  gallant  exploits  during  the 
war,  sufficiently  demonstrated  their  ability  and  pluck 
to  carry  out  this  project,  but  they  failed  to  get  the 
necessary  permission.  To  guard  against  such  attacks 
as  these,  Farragut  reluctantly  resorted  to  torpedoes. 
He  wrote :  "  I  have  always  deemed  it  [torpedo  warfare] 
unworthy  of  a  chivalrous  nation,  but  it  does  not  do  to 
give  your  enemy  such  a  decided  superiority  over  you." 

An  attempt  was  made  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1864,  by  the  light-draught  steamers  of  the  Union  squad- 
ron to  enter  Mobile  Bay  from  Mississippi  Sound,  but 
the  vessels  could  not  get  within  effective  range  of  Fort 
Powell,  and  they  retired  without  accomplishing  their 
purpose.  Several  shot  were  exchanged,  and  four  100- 
pound  shells  struck  the  mortar  schooner  John  Griffiths 
in  succession,  but  fortunately  none  of  them  exploded, 
and  only  one  man  was  hurt.  The  attack,  however, 
served  to  divert  the  enemy's  attention  from  Sherman, 
who  was  then  making  a  raid  in  Mississippi. 

On  the  night  of  July  5th  Lieutenant  John  Critten- 
den  Watson  volunteered  to  lead  a  boat  party  against  a 
blockade-runner  that  was  beached  under  the  guns  of 
Fort  Morgan.  Watson  was  accompanied  by  Lieutenant 
Herbert  B.  Tyson  and  Ensigns  Dana,  Whiting,  Glidden 
and  Pendleton,  and  Master's-Mate  Herrick,  while  the 
Metacomet,  Lieutenant-Commander  James  Edward  Jou- 
ett,  and  the  Kennebec,  Lieutenant-Commander  William 
Penn  McCann,  stood  in  to  assist  the  attacking  party. 
Under  cover  of  darkness  the  men  pulled  boldly  under 
the  guns  of  the  fort,  boarded  the  blockade-runner,  fired 


1864  PREPARING   TO   RUN   BY  FORT  MORGAN.  405 

her  and  returned  to  the  fleet  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 
Watson  also  made  night  explorations  in  an  open  boat 
under  the  guns  of  Fort  Morgan  to  determine  the  posi- 
tion of  torpedoes. 

By  the  4th  of  August  the  Union  fleet  had  been  in- 
creased to  twenty-one  wooden  vessels  and  four  iron- 
clads. Farragut  had  intended  to  go  in  that  day,  but 
as  the  monitor  Tecumseh  and  the  Richmond  did  not 
arrive  in  time  the  attack  was  postponed  until  the  next 
day.  It  was  only  by  the  greatest  exertions  that  the 
commanders  of  these  vessels,  which  were  at  Pensacola, 
arrived  off  Mobile  on  the  night  of  August  4th.  Farra- 
gut's  plan  was  to  pass  up  the  channel  close  under  the 
guns  of  Fort  Morgan,  and  in  his  general  orders  he  in- 
structed the  several  commanders  to  place  nets  in  posi- 
tion to  catch  splinters,  and  to  lay  chains  and  sand-bags 
along  their  decks  so  as  to  protect  the  machinery  from 
plunging  shot.  He  said  :  "Hang  the  sheet  chains  over 
the  side.  Land  your  starboard  boats  or  lower  them  on 
the  port  side,  and  lower  the  port  boats  down  to  the 
water's  edge.  Place  a  leadsman  and  a  pilot  in  the  port- 
quarter  boat  or  the  one  most  convenient  to  the  com- 
mander." While  at  Pensacola  the  Richmond  took 
aboard  three  thousand  bags  of  sand,  which  were  piled 
in  a  barricade  several  feet  thick  around  the  starboard 
side  from  the  port  bow  to  the  port  quarter  and  from 
berth  to  spar  decks,  so  as  to  afford  additional  protec- 
tion from  a  raking  fire.  Many  of  the  commanders  filled 
their  vacant  ports  on  the  starboard  side  with  guns  from 
the  port  batteries.  Some  of  the  boats  were  lowered 
with  sails  under  them,  to  take  up  the  concussion  and 
to  catch  them  in  case  the  falls  wrere  shot  away. 

The  vessels  were  ordered  to  sail  in  pairs,  lashed 
together,  the  larger  ship  on  the  starboard  and  the 
smaller  vessel  on  the  port  side,  so  that  in  case  either 
became  disabled  the  other  could  be  depended  upon 
for  carrying  them  along  :  The  Brooklyn,  Captain 
James  Alden,  with  the  Octorara,  Lieutenant- Com- 


406  0FF   MOBILE  BAY.  1864. 

mander  Charles  H.   Greene ;  the  Hartford,  flagship, 
Captain   Percival   Drayton,   with   the   6-gun   double- 
ender  side- wheel  steamer  Metacomet,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Jouett ;   the  20-gun  sloop-of-war  Richmond, 
Captain  Thornton  Alexander  Jenkins,  with  the  6-gun 
side- wheel  steamer  Port  Royal,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Bancroft  Gherardi ;  the  8-gun  sloop-of-war  Lackawan- 
na,  Captain  John  Bonne  tt  Marchand,  with  the  8-gun 
propeller  Seminole,  Commander  Edward  Donaldson; 
the    8-gun    sloop-of-war    Monongahela,    Commander 
James  Hooker  Strong,  with  the  5-gun  propeller  Kenne- 
bec,  Lieutenant-Commander  McCann ;  the  11 -gun  sloop- 
of-war  Ossipee,  Commander  William  Edgar  Le  Roy, 
with  the  5-gun  propeller  Itasca,  Lieutenant-Command- 
er  George   Brown ;    the   9-gun   sloop-of-war  Oneida, 
Commander  James  Robert  Madison  Mullany,  with  the 
10-gun  propeller  Galena,  Lieutenant-Commander  Clark 
Henry  Wells.     Farragut  at  first  had  intended  to  lead 
the  ships  in  the  Hartford,  but,  yielding  to  the  earnest 
solicitations  of  the  officers,  he  consented  to  let  the 
Brooklyn  take  the  post  of  danger,  as  she  was  fitted 
with  an  apparatus  for  catching   torpedoes,  and  had 
four  bow  guns  which  could  be  used  to  advantage  while 
approaching  the  fort.     The  monitors  were  to  go  in  sin- 
gle file,  a  little  ahead  of  the  wooden  ships,  in  the 
following    order:    the    Tecumseh,    Commander  Tunis 
Augustus  Maedonough  Craven,  the  Manhattan,  Com- 
mander James  William  Augustus  Nicholson,  the  Win- 
nebago,  Commander  Thomas  Holdup  Stevens,  and  the 
CMckasaw,  Lieutenant-Commander  George  Hamilton 
Perkins. 

In  order  that  the  fleet  might  hold  rapid  communi- 
cation with  the  land  forces,  a  number  of  army  signal 
officers  were  sent  from  New  Orleans  in  a  tugboat  and 
were  distributed  among  the  principal  vessels.  Fifteen 
hundred  soldiers  were  landed  on  Dauphin  Island  un- 
der cover  of  the  guns  of  the  Conemaugh,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  James  Charles  Philip  DeKrafft,  August 


1864.  ON  THE  EVE  OP  THE  GREAT  BATTLE.  407 

3d.  The  steamers  Genesee,  Pinola,  Pembina,  Sebago, 
Tennessee  and  Bienmlle,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Edward  C.  Graf  ton,  were  instructed 
to  take  a  position  southeast  of  Fort  Morgan  and  keep 
up  a  flank  fire,  but  they  were  unable  to  get  near  enough 
to  the  enemy  to  take  an  important  part  in  the  action. 

On  the  afternoon  of  August  4th,  Farragut,  with 
the  commanders  of  his  vessels,  ran  into  the  harbor  in 
the  tender  Cowslip  to  make  a  final  inspection  of  the 
defenses.  All  around  the  bay  seemed  to  be  quiet 
and  in  readiness  to  receive  the  long-expected  attack. 
The  triple  tier  of  cannon  at  Fort  Morgan,  protected 
by  immense  piles  of  sand-bags,  frowned  upon  the 
little  tender,  while  the  three  saucy-looking  gunboats 
and  the  bow  of  the  formidable  ram  Tennessee,  just 
poking  its  nose  around  the  point  of  land,  like  a  great 
tiger  awaiting  its  prey,  lay  above  the  fort  in  quiet 
readiness.  While  the  Cowslip  was  making  this  re- 
connoissance  a  Confederate  transport  came  down  the 
bay  and  began  landing  troops  and  provisions  with  an- 
other transport  at  Fort  Gaines.  Commander  Stevens, 
of  the  Winnebago,  was  ordered  to  drive  her  off,  but 
was  cautioned  not  to  approach  the  fort  nearer  than  a 
mile.  His  orders  read  :  "Get  back  to  your  anchorage 
before  night.  We  go  in  a  little  after  daylight  in  the 
morning,  so  don't  use  up  your  crew  too  much."  Run- 
ning up  to  easy  range  of  Fort  Gaines,  Stevens  opened 
a  well-directed  fire  on  the  transports,  and  drove  them 
up  the  bay.  The  Cowslip  then  returned  to  the  flag- 
ship, and  after  Farragut  had  given  his  final  instruc- 
tions to  his  commanders  they  returned  to  their  several 
vessels. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN. 

PREPARATIONS  for  the  great  battle  of  Mobile  Bay 
were  now  completed.  Every  precaution  that  a  saga- 
cious commander  could  devise  had  been  taken,  and  on 
the  night  of  August  4th  the  fleet  rode  quietly  at  anchor, 
with  top-lights  glimmering  and  twinkling  through  the 
rigging  as  the  ships  gently  swayed  with  the  ocean  swell, 
in  readiness  for  the  morrow.  Every  one  felt  the  seri- 
ousness of  the  work  before  him.  The  seamen  dis- 
cussed the  chances  of  a  battle  in  quiet  tones,  or  were 
leaving  last  messages  or  some  keepsake  with  a  mess- 
mate, in  case  "  something  happens  to  me."  In  the 
earlier  part  of  the  evening  the  officers  of  the  flagship 
gathered  around  the  wardroom  table,  feeling  that  per- 
haps it  was  the  last  time  they  would  be  together,  and 
spent  the  first  hour  in  writing  home  and  in  making 
their  personal  arrangements  for  the  battle.  This  being 
done,  "  there  followed  an  hour  of  unrestrained  jollity. 
Many  an  old  story  was  retold  and  ancient  conundrum 
repeated.  Old  officers  forgot  for  a  moment  their  cus- 
tomary dignity,  and  it  was  evident  that  all  were  ex- 
hilarated and  stimulated  by  the  knowledge  of  the  com- 
ing struggle.  There  was  no  other  '  stimulation,'  for 
the  strict  naval  rules  prevented.  Finally,  after  a  half 
hour's  smoke  on  the  forecastle,  all  hands  turned  in."1 
It  rained  heavily  in  the  evening,  but  as  the  night  ad- 
vanced it  cleared  up,  leaving  the  atmosphere  hot,  close 
and  oppressive,  with  scarcely  a  breath  of  air  stirring. 

1  Lieut.  Kinney,  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  iv,  p.  386. 

408 


1864.  "IF  GOD  IS  MY  LEADER."  499 

As  the  great  ships  swung  restlessly  at  their  anchors  the 
ebbing  and  flowing  tide  played  around  the  cables  and 
rippled  along  their  black  hulls  ;  the  eddies  swirling  un- 
der their  quarters  like  imps  of  darkness,  and  then  flit- 
ting on  to  the  next  ship.  In  the  distance,  just  discern- 
ible in  the  gloom,  lay  the  sullen  batteries  of  Fort 
Morgan,  with  a  double  force  of  sentinels  pacing  back 
and  forth,  ready  to  fire  on  any  adventurous  boat  party 
or  give  the  alarm  at  the  first  approach  of  the  ships. 

The  National  fleet  was  one  of  the  most  formidable 
collection  of  war  vessels  that  at  that  time  had  ever  been 
commanded  by  one  man.  Farragut  carried  in  the  palm 
of  his  hand  more  power  for  destruction  than  the  com- 
bined English,  French  and  Spanish  fleets  at  Trafalgar. 
Yet  during  the  silent  watches  of  that  night  the  great 
admiral  was  restless.  However  calm  he  appeared  to 
his  officers  and  men,  he  was  uneasy  on  the  eve  of  this 
his  greatest  battle.  Descending  into  the  privacy  of  the 
cabin,  he  made  his  personal  arrangements  for  the  terri- 
ble ordeal,  and  wrote  to  his  wife:  "I  am  going  into 
Mobile  in  the  morning  if  God  is  my  leader,  as  I  hope 
he  is,  and  in  him  I  place  my  trust.  If  he  thinks  it  is 
the  place  for  me  to  die,  I  am  ready  to  submit  to  his 
will.  God  bless  and  preserve  you  if  anything  should 
happen  to  me  !  " 

About  midnight  a  fog  rolled  in  from  the  Gulf  and 
enveloped  the  ships  in  its  dense  folds.  A  little  before 
daybreak  Farragut  sent  for  his  steward  and  asked  how 
the  weather  was,  and  learning  that  a  fresh  breeze  had 
sprung  up  in  the  west,  which  would  blow  the  smoke 
from  the  ships  over  Fort  Morgan,  he  quietly  remarked, 
"Then  we  will  go  in  this  morning."  And  soon  after- 
ward the  merry  piping  of  the  boatswain's  whistle  and 
the  hoarse  cry  of  "All  hands  ahoy!  Up  all  ham- 
mocks !  "  resounded  in  all  corners  of  the  flagship,  and 
in  an  instant  the  sepulchral  silence  of  a  few  minutes 
before  had  given  place  to  a  most  spirited  scene.  Hun- 
dreds of  men  hastened  up  from  the  berth  deck,  bearing 


410  FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

the  hammocks  in  their  arms,  and  deposited  them  where 
they  would  best  protect  the  crew  from  the  enemy's 
shot  or  from  splinters,  after  which  they  hastened  to 
the  performance  of  their  various  duties.  About  this 
time  the  steam  launch  Loyall,  named  after  Farragut's 
wife,  "with  its  pert  howitzer  in  the  bow,"  came  along 
the  port  side  to  receive  orders.  This  work  in  the  Hart- 
ford was  promptly  imitated  by  all  the  other  vessels  in 
the  fleet,  and  for  a  short  time  the  piping  of  many  silver 
whistles  breaking  over  the  peaceful  waters  resembled 
not  a  little  the  chirping  of  forest  birds  at  daybreak. 

By  this  time  the  mists  of  early  dawn  had  been  dis- 
pelled by  a  light  southwest  breeze,  and  the  rays  of  the 
morning  sun  shone  over  the  scene  in  unimpeded  splen- 
dor. In  the  admiral's  cabin,  from  which  had  emanated 
the  orders  changing  so  suddenly  the  sleeping  fleet  into 
a  scene  of  exhilarating  activity,  all  was  quiet  and  com- 
posed. Farragut  was  breakfasting  as  calmly  as  if 
nothing  unusual  were  going  on.  Finally,  at  5.30  A.  M., 
while  sipping  his  tea,  he  remarked  to  his  fleet  captain, 
"Well,  Dray  ton,  we  might  as  well  get  under  way." 
In  an  incredibly  short  time  this  simple  expression  had 
been  flashed  all  over  the  fleet,  and  "in  one  minute"  all 
the  ships  had  made  answering  signals  and  were  getting 
under  way.  By  half  past  six  o'clock  the  vessels  had 
crossed  the  bar,  and  after  a  few  minutes'  delay  they 
drew  out  in  an  imposing  line  of  battle  and  slowly  moved 
up  the  channel.  Each  ship  had  colors  flying  at  the 
peak  and  at  each  masthead,  and  as  the  beautiful  folds 
of  the  American  flags  were  gently  tossed  about  in  the 
light  breeze,  their  bright  hues  gleaming  and  glancing 
in  the  sunlight,  they  presented  a  vision  of  beauty  never 
to  be  forgotten.  But  the  ominous  absence  of  the  tom- 
pions  in  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon,  the  silent  groups 
of  men  standing  beside  the  monstrous  pivot  guns  in 
the  bows,  the  lowering  of  the  topmasts  and  the  absence 
of  all  superfluous  rigging,  gave  the  ships  a  peculiarly 
grim  and  vicious  look  and  too  plainly  indicated  that 


1864  THE  CALM  BEFORE  THE  STORM.  411 

they  were  entering  the  harbor  strictly  on  business. 
On  May  27,  1861,  the  Natchez  Courier  said,  "  Fort  Mor- 
gan welcomed  the  Union  ships  by  displaying  the  United 
States  flag  with  the  union  down  and  below  the  Confed- 
erate flag."  The  National  fleet  was  now  steaming  up 
Mobile  Bay  to  inquire  about  it. 

The  scene  in  the  flagship  at  this  stage  of  the  action 
was  thrilling.  As  the  noble  Hartford  drew  near  to  un- 
dergo her  part  in  the  battle  she  seemed  to  nerve  her- 
self for  the  terrible  ordeal.  An  almost  unbroken  silence 
pervaded  her  decks,  disturbed  only  by  the  lapping  of 
the  waves  against  her  dark  hull  as  she  passed  up  the 
channel,  and  the  musical  calls  of  the  leadsmen  in  the 
chains:  "By  the  mark  three!"  or  "A  quarter  less 
four ! "  As  the  men  stood  at  their  guns,  in  momen- 
tary expectation  of  the  order  to  fire  or  of  being  cut 
down  by  the  enemy's  shot,  they  instinctively  oast  in- 
quiring glances  at  the  determined  faces  of  their  officers. 
Serious  thoughts  were  passing  through  their  minds, 
and  many  faces  bore  an  anxious  expression.  The  good 
and  bad  deeds  of  their  lives  came  before  them  in  swift 
review,  for  they  realized  that  at  the  next  moment  they 
might  be  standing  before  their  Maker.  Yet  there  were 
no  signs  of  flinching.  They  had  been  looking  forward 
to  this  fight  for  months.  They  had  speculated  on 
its  chances  and  counted  on  its  costs,  and  were  now — 
with  minds  made  up,  with  set  faces  and  with  tense 
nerves — deliberately  advancing  to  the  great  struggle. 
In  the  cockpit  were  Surgeon  Lansdale  and  Assistant- 
Surgeon  Commons  and  their  aids,  with  their  instru- 
ments spread  out  for  the  first  victim.  As  their  bloody 
task  had  not  yet  begun,  they  held  their  watches  in 
their  hands,  to  time  the  different  periods  of  the  battle. 
To  them,  ignorant  of  everything  going  on  above,  each 
minute  seemed  an  hour. 

At  the  wheel,  under  the  break  of  the  poop-deck, 
snugly  barricaded  up  to  their  chins  with  canvas,  were 
the  veteran  seamen  McFarland,  Wood  and  Jassin, 


412  FARRAGUT   PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

who  had  been  in  every  engagement  of  the  ship,  and  on 
their  coolness  in  a  great  measure  depended  its  safety. 
Grasping  the  spokes  of  the  wheel  with  a  determined 
clutch,  they  had  ears  alone  for  the  captain.  On  the 
quarter-deck  was  the  commanding  figure  of  Captain 
Drayton,  surrounded  by  his  staff  officers,  Lieutenant 
J.  C.  Watson,  Lieutenant  Arthur  Reid  Yates,  whose 
duty  was  to  keep  a  watch  on  Farragut  and  convey  his 
orders  to  all  parts  of  the  ship,  Secretary  McKinley,  who 
was  busily  engaged  in  taking  notes  of  the  battle,  and 
Acting-Ensign  Henry  Howard  Brownell.  Close  to  them 
was  the  Signal-Quartermaster  Knowles,  who  had  hoisted 
more  than  one  signal  that  led  to  victory.  Farragut 
himself  had  taken  a  position  in  the  port  main  shrouds 
on  the  upper  sheer  ratline,  twenty  five  feet  up,  so  as  to 
command  a  better  view  of  the  battle  and  at  the  same 
time  be  within  easy  speaking  distance  of  Jouett,  who 
had  stationed  himself  on  the  wheelhouse  of  the  Meta- 
comet.  Above  Farragut  in  the  top  was  Martin  Free- 
man, the  pilot,  within  easy  reach  of  the  admiral. 

There  they  stood— the  boy  graduate  from  the  acade- 
my beside  the  weather-beaten  tar  who  had  seen  service 
in  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  the  youthful  marine  officer 
beside  the  scarred  veteran  of  a  dozen  actions,  each 
placing  implicit  confidence  in  the  other,  for  they  well 
knew  that  a  master  mind  was  guiding  them.  Truly, 
the  morale  of  the  ship  was  superb  ! 

At  6.47  A.  M.,  the  Tecumseh,  being  well  in  the  lead 
of  the  monitors,  fired  the  first  two  guns  of  the  battle, 
and  one  of  the  shells  was  seen  to  explode  over  Fort 
Morgan.  This  afforded  a  welcome  relief  to  the  dread- 
ful suspense.  But  she  did  not  repeat  this,  nor  did  the 
Union  ships  or  Fort  Morgan  follow  her  example,  for  all 
were  anxious  to  get  to  close  quarters  before  firing  in 
earnest.  Fort  Morgan  maintained  its  silence  so  long 
that  finally  it  was  thought  that  the  Confederates  were 
waiting  for  the  fleet  to  run  into  some  snare  ;  but  in  this 
they  were  mistaken,  for  at  7.06  A.  M.  a  puff  of  white 


\ 


'•      3«  L^ri8  ^ N      ''•  j  *3Ietacomet          \ 

/     T    YU.-M    'iif  V 


i  *w  /    (!  ,/l 


miHM&IVO 

Brooklyn 
Octorara 
Hartford 
Metacontt 
Richmond 
\  Pbrt  Koyal 

Seminole 

AdmiraVl  barge  Level 

M«n.<mgahela 
15.    Kennebec 
1«.   OuApee 

17.  Itatca 

18.  Ontida 

19.  Galena 


DIAGRAM  OF  THE 
BATTLE  OF 

MOBIJjE     BAY 

PREPARED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR  BY 
REAR-ADMIRAL  JOUETT 


1864.  THE  BATTLE  BEGINS.  4.^3 

smoke  and  a  long  tongue  of  flame  leaped  from  the 
parapets,  followed  a  few  seconds  later  by  a  distant 
boom,  and  a  heavy  shell  splashed  the  water  near  the 
Brooklyn.  Another  and  yet  another  puff  of  smoke 
curled  up  from  the  parapets,  and  shot  began  to  fall 
unpleasantly  near  the  ships. 

It  was  intended  that  the  monitors  should  take  the 
lead  and  draw  the  first  fire  of  Fort  Morgan,  but  owing 
to  their  low  speed  they  were  gradually  overhauled  by 
the  wooden  ships,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 
Brooklyn  began  to  double  on  the  quarter  of  the  rear 
monitor.  About  7.10  A.  M.  the  Brooklyn  opened  with 
her  bow  guns,  and  the  other  ships  followed  her  exam- 
ple as  soon  as  their  forward  guns  bore.  Ten  minutes 
later  the  enemy's  gunboats  and  the  ram  Tennessee 
moved  out  from  their  position  behind  Fort  Morgan, 
and,  crossing  the  channel,  took  a  position  within  the 
line  of  torpedoes  and  opened  a  raking  fire  on  the  ad- 
vancing wooden  ships,  paying  particular  attention  to 
the  Hartford.  This  fire  became  more  and  more  de- 
structive as  the  fleet  drew  near,  for  at  first  the  Confeder- 
ates aimed  high,  and  one  of  their  shot  struck  the  fore- 
mast of  the  Hartford,  and  soon  afterward  a  120-pound 
shot  lodged  in  the  main  topmast,  throwing  a  cloud  of 
splinters  over  the  ship.  But  they  soon  got  a  better 
range,  and  splinters,  some  veritably  logs  of  wood,  be- 
gan to  fly  around  the  decks  by  the  cord.  The  gunboat 
Selma,  particularly,  was  handled  with  great  skill  and 
coolness.  Before  going  into  action  her  men  were  sent 
to  breakfast,  and  several  shot  had  been  fired  by  the 
Union  fleet  before  they  were  sent  to  their  stations. 

In  the  Hartford  the  order  to  go  ahead  "Slowly, 
slowly,"  and  to  elevate  the  guns  for  fourteen  hun- 
dred yards,  was  passed  along  the  deck,  but  it  was 
fully  five  minutes  after  Fort  Morgan  opened  before  the 
flagship  returned  the  fire.  Finally,  when  the  ship 
was  in  easy  range,  a  bow  gun  was  carefully  trained 
and  fired,  and  as  she  drew  nearer  to  the  fort  some  of 


414=  FARRAGUT  PASSES   FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

the  other  forward  guns  were  brought  into  action.  When 
abreast  of  the  enemy  the  HartfordSs  formidable  broad- 
side was  in  full  play.  But  aside  from  the  booming  of 
heavy  ordnance,  the  only  sounds  that  could  be  heard 
aboard  were  the  quiet  orders,  "Steady,  boys,  steady! 
Left  tackle  a  little — so,  so,"  and  then  a  murderous 
broadside  would  leap  from  the  black  side  of  the  flag- 
ship, driving  the  Confederate  gunners  from  their  water 
batteries  ;  but  they  returned  to  their  guns  whenever  an 
opportunity  was  afforded,  like  the  brave  fellows  they 
were.  As  the  National  ships  advanced  head-on  toward 
the  enemy  they  presented  an  excellent  target,  for  if  the 
Confederates  missed  one  vessel  they  were  almost  sure 
to  rake  the  one  next  to  it.  A  shell  from  their  gunboats 
struck  the  Metacomefs  hawse  pipe,  knocked  a  piece  of 
the  pipe  upon  deck  and  cut  off  a  man's  head.  The  shell 
then  was  deflected  into  the  yeoman's  storeroom,  and 
bursting  among  the  oils,  paints  and  turpentine,  set  the 
room  in  a  flame.  Observing  the  danger,  Ensign  George 
E.  Wing,  who  commanded  the  powder  division,  with 
his  men  rushed  into  the  room  and  fought  the  flames 
with  wet  blankets  and  hammocks.  Finally  he  called 
out,  "Batten  down  the  hatches,  and  leave  us  to  fight 
it  out."  After  a  fierce  struggle  the  fire  was  extin- 
guished. When  the  heroic  men  came  out  of  the  hatch 
their  clothing  was  scorched,  and  their  faces  were  black 
with  the  smoke. 

The  terrific  cannonading  deadened  the  light  breeze, 
and  as  the  smoke  of  battle  collected  around  the  ships 
the  gunners  in  the  fort  were  unable  to  see  them  dis- 
tinctly. As  the  smoke  gradually  rose  higher  and 
higher,  Farragut,  almost  unconsciously,  climbed  up 
the  rigging,  a  ratline  at  a  time,  until  at  last  he  found 
himself  partly  above  the  futtock  bands  and  clinging 
to  the  futtock  shrouds.  Here  he  had  free  use  of  both 
hands,  either  for  holding  his  spyglass  or  for  any  other 
purpose.  Once  or  twice  he  reached  through  the  lubber 
hole  and  touched  the  pilot's  foot  in  order  to  attract  his 


1864.  LASHING  FARRAGUT  TO  THE  RIGGING.  415 

attention,  for  the  roar  of  battle  drowned  his  voice.  In 
the  earlier  part  of  the  battle  Captain  Drayton,  who  had 
been  keeping  a  watchful  eye  on  the  admiral,  fearing 
that  some  damage  to  the  rigging  might  cause  him  to 
fall  overboard,  ordered  Knowles  to  ascend  the  rigging 
and  secure  him  to  the  shrouds.  "I  went  up,"  said 
Knowles,  "with  a  piece  of  lead-line  and  made  it  fast 
to  one  of  the  forward  shrouds,  and  then  took  it  around 
the  admiral  to  the  after  shroud,  making  it  fast  there. 
The  admiral  said,  'Never  mind,  I  am  all  right,'  but  I 
went  ahead  and  obeyed  orders." *  When  the  smoke 
of  battle  compelled  Farragut  to  ascend  higher  in  the 
rigging  in  order  to  get  a  better  view  of  what  was  going 
on,  he  unfastened  the  lashings  with  his  own  hands,  and 
as  he  reached  the  futtock  shrouds  he  passed  the  line 
two  or  three  times  around  himself  and  fastened  the 
end  to  the  rigging. 

"About  this  time,"  wrote  Acting-Ensign  Joseph 
Marthon,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  howitzer  in  the 
Hartford's  maintop,  only  a  few  feet  above  the  admiral, 
"my  attention  was  called  to  the  admiral's  position  by 
his  nailing  the  top  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  asking  *  where 
this  water  was  coming  from.'  Upon  looking  about,  I 
found  that  the  water-breaker  placed  in  the  hole  of  a 
coil  of  rigging  I  was  sitting  on  had  been  capsized  by 
a  piece  of  shell  knocking  a  hole  in  the  top,  and  the 
water  was  running  down  on  the  admiral's  head.  I  in- 
formed him  of  the  fact,  and  he  replied,  'I  noticed  it 
is  not  salt,'"2 

Farragut  at  7.15  A.  M.  signaled  for  closer  order, 
which  was  gallantly  obeyed,  each  vessel  closing  up 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  one  ahead,  so  that  by  7.20 
A.  M.  the  larger  vessels  had  their  broadsides  playing  on 
the  fort  with  great  effect,  while  the  monitors,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Tecumseh,  ran  under  the  guns  of  the 

1  Loyall  Farragut's  Life  of  Admiral  Farragut,  p.  415. 
s  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  iv,  p.  407. 


416  FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  18G4. 

fort  and  delivered  terrific  blows  with  their  enormous 
guns.  The  Tecumseh,  after  firing  the  first  two  shot  at 
the  fort,  as  just  narrated,  reloaded  with  sixty  pounds 
of  powder  (the  heaviest  charge  at  that  time  used,  al- 
though one  hundred  pounds  afterward  were  fired  in 
each  gun)  and  steel  shot,  and,  with  a  view  of  singling 
out  the  Tennessee  and  giving  battle  to  her,  Commander 
Craven  steamed  ahead  as  fast  as  the  foul  bottom  of  the 
monitor  would  allow,  paying  no  attention  to  the  fort, 
intent  only  on  meeting  the  huge  rain.  Farragut  wrote : 
"  I  believe  that  the  Tecumseh  would  have  gone  up  and 
grappled  with  and  captured  the  Tennessee.  Craven's 
heart  was  bent  upon  it."  *  In  order  that  he  might  better 
direct  the  movements  of  his  craft,  he  had  stationed  him- 
self in  the  pilot-house  beside  the  pilot,  John  Collins. 
Collins  was  the  Metacomeffs  pilot,  but  Jouett  gave  him 
to  Craven,  as  he  hoped  to  see  the  two  ironclads  meet 
on  equal  terms.  When  they  arrived  at  the  red  buoy 
marking  the  termination  of  the  triple  line  of  torpedoes, 
he  turned  abruptly  to  the  pilot  and  said  :  "It  can  not 
be  possible  that  the  admiral  means  to  have  us  go  inside 
that  buoy ;  I  can  not  turn  my  ship  there."  At  this 
moment  the  ram  moved  from  her  position  on  the  east 
of  the  buoy  and  shaped  her  course  to  the  west.  Com- 
mander Craven,  who  had  been  eagerly  watching  every 
motion  of  the  ram,  observed  this  change  of  position, 
and,  fearing  that  Buchanan  might  be  retreating  and 
thus  deprive  the  Tecumseh  of  the  opportunity  of  at- 
tacking him  first,  he  ordered  his  helm  to  starboard  and 
moved  directly  for  the  Tennessee,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  his  vessel  was  running  into  the  line  of  torpedoes. 

It  appears  that  Admiral  Buchanan  also  had  posted 
his  flagship  with  a  view  of  engaging  the  Tecumseh. 
His  vessel  had  been  anchored  behind  a  long  tongue  of 
land  on  the  extremity  of  which  Fort  Morgan  was  situ- 
ated, and  when  the  National  ships  were  observed  ad- 

1  Mahan's  Life  of  Farragut,  p.  273. 


1864.  CRAVEN  SINGLES  OUT  THE  TENNESSEE.  417 

vancing  in  battle  array  he  gave  the  signal  to  prepare 
for  action.  His  men  hurriedly  took  their  coffee  and 
hastened  to  their  quarters  on  the  narrow  gun-deck  of 
the  ram,  which,  surrounded  by  the  massive  walls  of 
oak,  pine  and  iron,  and  covered  by  bars  of  iron,  ap- 
peared more  like  a  dungeon  than  a  ship's  deck.  Ad- 
miral Buchanan  called  his  crew  aft,  and,  as  the  rays  of 
the  sun  poured  through  the  iron  grating  and  slowly 
threw  its  checkered  light  over  the  men  and  decks  filled 
with  the  dreadful  paraphernalia  of  war,  he  addressed 
them  as  follows:  "Now,  men,  the  enemy  is  coming, 
and  I  want  you  to  do  your  duty ;  and  you  shall  not 
have  it  to  say  when  you  leave  this  vessel  that  you  were 
not  near  enough  to  the  enemy,  for  I  will  mee.t  them, 
and  then  you  can  fight  them  alongside  of  their  own 
ships  ;  and  if  I  fall,  lay  me  on  one  side  and  go  on  with 
the  fight,  and  never  mind  me,  but  whip  and  sink  the 
Yankees  or  fight  until  you  sink  yourselves,  but  do  not 
surrender." 

Buchanan  then  stationed  himself  in  the  Tennessee's 
pilot-house,  and,  like  a  gladiator  warily  approaching 
his  opponent,  fixed  his  eye  on  the  ominous  black  tur- 
ret of  the  Tecumseh,  that,  revolving  on  the  mailed  raft 
propelled  by  an  unseen  power  and  with  scarcely  per- 
ceptible motion,  was  every  moment  creeping  closer  upon 
him.  For  the  time  there  seemed  to  be  a  lull  in  the  roar 
of  battle,  as  those  whose  view  was-  not  obstructed  by 
the  smoke  instinctively  turned  their  eyes  to  these  cham- 
pions of  the  two  new  types  of  war  vessel  approaching 
to  grapple  in  a  deadly  struggle.  Determined  to  have 
the  contest  at  the  closest  quarters,  Buchanan,  scarcely 
taking  his  eyes  off  the  black  wall  of  the  monitor, 
scanned  the  riveting  of  the  iron  plates  with  the  closest 
scrutiny.  The  craft  were  now  so  near  that  he  could 
almost  see  the  whites  of  the  pilot's  eyes  in  the  monitor 
gleaming  out  at  him  through  the  massive  bars  that 
protected  the  sight-holes  of  the  pilot-house.  Buchanan 
now  sent  the  order  through  Captain  Johnston  to  Lieu- 

72 


418  FARRAQUT   PASSES   FORT  MORGAN,  1864. 

tenant  Wharton,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  forward 
division  of  guns,  "Not  to  fire  until  the  vessels  are  in 
actual  contact."  "Ay,  ay,  sir,"  responded  the  Con- 
federate lieutenant.  Wharton  had  been  in  all  the  des- 
perate engagements  between  the  Arkansas  and  the 
National  fleet,  and  was  a  cool  and  determined  officer. 
A  few  minutes  later  the  ironclads  had  approached  so 
near  that  he  instinctively  tightened  the  lock-string  of 
the  bow  gun,  which  had  been  carefully  trained  on  the 
Tecumseh.  But  when  the  ships  were  less  than  a  hun- 
dred yards  apart  there  was  a  sudden  muffled  explosion, 
like  the  distant  boom  of  a  cannon,  and  at  the  same 
instant  a  great  column  of  water  sprang  up  from  the 
bay  alongside  of  the  Tecumseh,  leaving  a  chasm.  The 
ironclad  gave  a  deep  lurch  to  port,  a  heavy  roll  to  star- 
board and  then  her  bow  sank  out  of  sight.  Her  stern 
rose  bodily  out  of  the  water,  and  the  screw,  relieved  of 
resistance,  whirled  with  tremendous  rapidity  in  the  air. 
One  or  more  torpedoes  had  exploded  under  her.  The 
next  instant,  or  in  thirty  seconds  from  the  time  the 
explosion  occurred,  the  doomed  ironclad,  with  her 
colors  still  flying,  plunged  bow-foremost  to  the  bottom 
of  the  channel,  carrying  down  with  her  ninety-three 
men  out  of  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen.  Only 
the  day  before  Craven  had  been  warned  of  the  torpe- 
does, but  he  replied,  "I  don't  care  a  pinch  of  snuff  for 
them ! " 

In  the  midst  of  this  scene  of  horror  one  of  those 
acts  of  heroism  which  furnish  the  brightest  pages  of 
naval  history  stood  out  with  all  the  brilliancy  of  a 
great  soul.  When  it  was  seen  that  the  Tecumseh  was 
going  down,  Commander  Craven  and  the  pilot  instinc- 
tively made  for  the  opening,  through  which  only  one 
man  at  a  time  could  pass,  leading  out  of  the  pilot- 
house, into  the  turret  chamber  below.  Both  men  ar- 
rived at  the  opening  at  the  same  time.  A  delay  of  a 
few  seconds  meant  death  for  both.  With  the  greatness 
of  soul  that  might  be  expected  of  a  descendant  of 


1864.  LOSS  OP  THE  TECUMSEH.  4^9 

Captain  Thomas  Tingey,  of  the  Revolution,  Commander 
Craven  drew  back  and  quietly  said  to  Collins,  "  You 
first,  sir."  "There  was  nothing  after  me,"  said  the 
pilot,  "for  when  I  reached  the  last  round  of  the  ladder 
the  vessel  seemed  to  drop  from  under  me."1  When 
divers  went  down  to  examine  the  wreck  of  the  Tecum- 
sek,  a  week  afterward,  nearly  all  her  officers  and  men 
were  found  at  their  posts.  On  the  night  before  the 
battle  Chief -Engineer  John  Faron  (who,  although  an 
invalid,  left  his  bed  at  Pensacola  to  participate  in  the 
fight)  had  received  a  letter  from  his  young  wife  in  New 
York.  When  found  by  the  divers  he  stood  with  one 
hand  on  the  revolving  bar  of  the  turret  engine,  and 
in  the  other  hand  he  grasped  the  letter,  which  his 
sightless  eyes  seemed  to  be  reading. 

Farragut,  who  from  his  elevated  position  in  the  main 
shrouds  of  the  Hartford  had  seen  the  disaster,  immedi- 
ately hailed  Jouett,  who  was  on  the  starboard  wheel- 

1  Tunis  Augustus  Macdonough  Craven,  a  grandson  of  Captain  Thomas 
Tingey,  of  the  United  States  navy,  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Janu- 
ary 11,  1813.  He  entered  the  navy  as  a  midshipman  in  February,  1829, 
and  went  through  the  usual  course.  In  1841  he  was  made  a  lieutenant, 
and  served  in  the  Falmouth  until  1843,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the 
North  Carolina.  As  a  lieutenant  in  the  Dale  he  performed  gallant  service 
in  the  cruise  of  that  vessel  in  the  Gulf  of  California  during  the  Mexi- 
can War.  He  returned  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  in  1849,  and  commanded 
various  vessels  engaged  in  the  coast  survey.  In  1857  he  commanded  the 
Atrato  in  the  surveying  expedition  at  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  While  in 
command  of  the  Mohawk,  off  Cuba,  he  captured  a  brig  having  on  board 
five  hundred  slaves.  He  received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Queen  of  Spain 
for  saving  the  crew  of  a  Spanish  merchant  vessel,  and  about  the  same  time 
the  New  York  Board  of  Underwriters  gave  Mrs.  Craven  a  silver  service  of 
plate  for  the  protection  her  husband  had  afforded  to  merchantmen  on  the 
high  seas.  While  in  command  of  the  Crusader,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war,  he  was  instrumental  in  preserving  the  fortress  at  Key  West  to 
the  National  cause.  In  April,  1861,  he  was  made  a  commander,  and  cruised 
for  Confederate  commerce-destroyers.  He  blockaded  the  Sumter  at  Gibral- 
tar for  two  months,  so  that  her  officers  and  crew  deserted  her.  Return- 
ing home  from  this  service,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  monitor 
Tecumseh  and  was  ordered  to  join  the  James  River  flotilla,  but  a  few 
months  afterward  he  was  attached  to  the  Gulf  squadron  under  Farragut. 


420  FARRAGUT   PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  18(54. 

house  of  the  Metacomet^  and  asked  him  if  he  could 
spare  a  boat  for  the  survivors  ;  but  Jouett  had  already 
sent  a  boat,  in  charge  of  Acting-Ensign  Henry  C. 
Neilds,  of  the  Volunteer  Corps,  to  the  scene  of  the  dis- 
aster. Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  boat  was  ex- 
posed "to  one  of  the  most  galling  fires  I  ever  saw,"1 
Mr.  Neilds,  starting  from  the  port  quarter  of  the  Meta- 
comet,  pulled  under  the  Hartford's  stern  and  across  the 
Brooklyn's  bow  within  a  hundred  yards  of  Fort  Mor- 
gan, where,  observing  the  boat  and  surmising  her  mis- 
sion, General  Page  gave  the  order  "Don't  fire  on  that 
boat ;  she  is  saving  drowning  men. "  In  the  haste  of 
getting  under  way  Mr.  Neilds  forgot  to  hoist  his  colors, 
and  as  he  was  passing  the  Hartford's  broadside  an  offi- 
cer who  commanded  the  forecastle  division  of  guns  in 
the  flagship,  observing  "the  boat  without  a  flag  and 
knowing  nothing  of  its  object,  but  having  torpedoes 
uppermost  in  his  mind,  connected  its  presence  with 
them,  trained  one  of  his  100- pounders  upon  it,  and  was 
about  to  pull  the  lock-string,  when  one  of  the  ship's 
company  caught  his  arm,  saying,  'For  God's  sake, 
don't  fire  !  it's  one  of  our  own  boats ! '"  Unconscious 
of  the  narrow  escape  he  had  had  at  the  hands  of  his 
friends,  young  Neilds  soon  afterward  was  hailed  by 
some  one  and  told  that  his  colors  were  not  flying,  and 
stooping  down  he  hoisted  them  before  the  eyes  of  the 
fleet  and  the  men  in  the  fort.  "  I  can  scarcely  describe 
how  I  felt  at  witnessing  this  most  gallant  act,"  said  one 
of  the  Tennessee's  officers.  "The  muzzle  of  our  gun 
was  slowly  raised,  and  the  bolt  intended  for  the  Te- 
cumseh  flew  harmlessly  over  the  heads  of  that  glorious 
boat's  crew  far  down  the  line  of  our  foes." 

Reaching  the  spot  where  the  TecumseJi  had  sunk, 
Mr.  Neilds  picked  up  an  officer,  eight  men  and  the 
pilot,  and  after  placing  them  aboard  the  Winnelago 
he  pulled  to  the  Oneida,  in  which  ship  he  remained 


Farragut.  s  Mahan's  Gulf  and  Inland  Waters,  p.  234. 


1864.  A  MISTAKEN  SHOUT  OF  JOY.  421 

as  signal  officer  until  the  fleet  passed  the  fort.  Four 
of  the  survivors  swam  to  the  beach  and  were  made  pris- 
oners by  the  garrison  of  the  fort.  When  the  men  in 
the  fort  saw  the  fate  of  the  Tecumseh  they  cheered, 
but  General  Page  promptly  checked  them,  and  told 
them  to  sink  the  Hartford  first  and  then  cheer.  Owing 
to  the  smoke  and  confusion  of  battle  few  of  the  men 
in  the  fleet  realized  the  appalling  nature  of  the  catas- 
trophe, and,  the  report  having  started  that  the  Tecum- 
seh had  sunk  the  Tennessee,  many  of  the  crews  gave 
cheers,  which  were  taken  up  by  one  ship  after  another 
until  nearly  the  whole  fleet  joined  in  a  mistaken  shout 
of  joy. 

Commander  Thomas  Holdup  Stevens,  speaking  of 
this  incident,  said :  "  As  I  was  walking  to  the  after 
turret  of  the  Winnebago,  and  when  about  midway  be- 
tween the  two  turrets,  I  was  startled  by  a  series  of  loud 
cheers  and  yells  coming  from  all  directions  seemingly, 
and  looking  forward  to  discover  the  cause,  I  saw,  to  my 
consternation,  the  Tecumseh  going  down  bow  foremost, 
with  the  propeller  of  the  ill  fated  vessel  revolving  rap- 
idly in  the  air.  For  a  moment  I  was  stunned  by  the 
appalling  disaster,  whose  effects  were  immediately  ob- 
served in  the  changed  condition  of  the  situation,  in  the 
feeble  fire  of  the  wooden  ships,  which  but  now  were 
belching  forth  broadsides  of  destructive  missiles,  and 
in  the  sudden  increase  of  the  vigorous  and  pitiless  fire 
from  the  fort,  the  ram  and  the  Confederate  gunboats 
upon  our  wooden  ships." 

About  the  time  of  the  terrible  fate  of  the  Tecum- 
seh torpedoes  were  reported  almost  under  the  bow  of 
the  Brooklyn,  and  Captain  Alden  immediately  ordered 
his  army  signal  officers  to  report  to  the  flagship  :  "  The 
monitors  are  right  ahead ;  we  cannot  go  on  without 
passing  them."  Observing  that  the  Brooklyn  was  sig- 
naling, Farragut  ordered  his  army  signal  officers  to 
come  on  deck.  Lieutenant  Kinney  obeyed,  and,  run- 
ning to  the  forecastle,  took  the  Brooklyn's  message. 


422  FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

Farragut  promptly  replied,  "  Order  the  monitors  ahead 
and  go  on,"  but  the  engines  of  the  Brooklyn  and  the 
Octorara  had  been  reversed,  as  Captain  Alden  feared  a 
repetition  of  the  Tecumsefts  disaster.  As  these  two 
vessels  backed  down  their  bows  swung  round  so 
that  they  lay  directly  across  the  channel,  exposed  to  a 
raking  fire  from  the  fort  and  completely  blocking  the 
progress  of  the  other  vessels.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
people  in  the  Brooklyn  did  not  see  torpedoes  at  all, 
but  simply  shell  boxes,  which  they  mistook  for  tor- 
pedo buoys.  The  Confederate  gunboats  "fired  very 
rapidly,  and  as  they  used  shells  the  empty  shell  boxes 
were  thrown  overboard,  consequently  they  were  in  line 
across  the  channel."1 

In  order  to  prevent  a  collision,  the  Hartford  and 
her  consort,  the  Metacomet,  which  were  the  next  in  line, 
reversed  their  engines  also,  but  before  they  could  come 
to  a  standstill  their  momentum  and  the  flood  tide  had 
carried  their  bows  so  near  the  Brooklyn's  stern  that  a 
collision  seemed  inevitable.  To  make  matters  worse, 
the  Richmond  and  the  Port  Royal  were  following  close 
in  the  flagship's  wake,  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the 
fleet  was  doomed  to  disaster.  The  broadsides  of  the 
heavy  ships  were  now  out  of  range,  and,  relieved  of 
their  fire,  the  Confederates  in  Fort  Morgan  returned  to 
their  guns  and  opened  a  terrific  cannonade.  At  this 
moment,  says  an  eye-witness,  "the  whole  fort  seemed 
to  be  enveloped  in  flame.  Looking  aloft  from  the  deck 
of  the  Winnebago  while  the  hulls  of  our  ships  were 
obscured  by  the  smoke  of  battle,  I  could  distinctly  see, 
by  the  flags  flying  from  the  different  vessels,  the  con- 
fusion in  the  order  of  the  fleet,  which  seemed  to  be  all 
tangled  up,  as  was  in  reality  the  fact,  and  but  for 
Farragut's  genius  for  war,  which  enabled  him  at  once 
to  grasp  the  situation  and  apply  the  remedy,  the  most 
complete  and  crushing  disaster  would  have  followed. 

1  Rear-Admiral  Jouett  to  the  author. 


1864.          DREADFUL  CARNAGE  IN  THE  HARTFORD.          423 

This  crisis  grew  out  of  the  hapless  disaster  to  the  Tecum- 
seh,  which  was  thus  far-reaching  in  its  effects." 

At  this  critical  period  of  the  battle  the  National 
vessels  suffered  their  heaviest  losses.  Believing  that 
the  leading  ship,  the  Brooklyn,  was  the  Hartford,  the 
Confederate  gunners  in  the  fort  concentrated  their  fire 
on  her,  and  before  the  battle  was  over  she  was  struck 
seventy  times.  Besides  this,  the  ships  were  subjected 
to  a  fearful  raking  fire  from  the  Confederate  gunboats, 
the  greatest  carnage  occurring  aboard  the  Hartford. 
One  man  had  both  legs  carried  away,  and,  as  he  threw 
up  his  hands  in  agony,  another  shot  took  off  both  his 
arms  ;  yet  he  survived  his  injuries.  Another  man  was 
killed  while  climbing  up  the  ladder  from  the  berth 
deck.  In  falling,  his  body  struck  Wilson  Brown,  a 
sailor  who  wras  stationed  at  the  shell  whip,  or  davit  for 
hoisting  shells  on  the  berth  deck.  Brown  was  knocked 
into  the  hold,  where  he  lay  senseless  some  minutes,  but 
on  recovering  consciousness  he  returned  to  his  post. 
The  men  at  the  shell  whips  were  twice  scattered  by 
bursting  shells.  A  shot  crashed  through  the  bulwarks 
and  swept  away  all  the  men  that  were  stationed  on  that 
side  of  one  of  the  guns,  and  about  the  same  time  a 
shot  came  through  the  bow  and  took  off  the  head  of 
a  gunner  at  one  of  the  forward  guns.  The  foremast  was 
twice  struck,  once  slightly,  and  again  by  a  shell  from 
the  Selma  that  came  tumbling  end  over  end  and  buried 
itself  butt  end  first  in  the  heel  of  the  topmast,  just  at 
the  doubling  of  the  mast.  Had  the  shot  struck  point 
on  and  so  exploded,  or  had  it  struck  the  spar  at  any 
other  place,  the  entire  mast  would  have  been  carried 
away. 

During  the  time  the  fleet  was  in  effective  range  of 
Fort  Morgan,  which  was  about  an  hour,  the  fort  fired 
four  hundred  and  ninety-one  shot,  or  an  average  of 
about  eight  a  minute.  But  there  were  times  when  they 
fired  with  much  greater  rapidity,  and,  adding  the  fire 
of  the  Confederate  gunboats,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 


424  FARRAGUT  PASSES   FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

National  ships  were  literally  in  a  storm  of  shot,  princi- 
pally directed  against  the  Brooklyn  and  the  Hartford. 

While  Lieutenant  Tyson  was  commanding  a  for- 
ward division  of  guns,  a  shell  exploded  between  two 
of  the  guns  and  killed  or  wounded  fifteen  men.  The 
decks  of  the  Hartford  soon  presented  a  horrible  spec- 
tacle. The  planks  were  slippery  with  blood,  which 
ran  into  the  scuppers  in  a  sluggish  stream,  while  frag- 
ments of  the  human  body,  tufts  of  hair,  shreds  of 
clothing  and  splashes  of  blood  adhered  to  the  bul- 
warks, masts  and  other  parts  of  the  ship.  As  fast  as 
the  men  were  struck  the  bodies  of  those  still  living 
were  hurried  to  the  cockpit  to  undergo  the  knife  or 
bandage  treatment,  as  their  condition  demanded,  while 
those  killed  outright  were  laid  in  a  long  row  on  the 
port  side.  The  sight  of  these  bodies  was  not  calculated 
to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  survivors,  and  they  were 
mercifully  concealed  from  view  by  a  canvas  covering. 

While  the  leading  wooden  ships  were  thus  en- 
tangled and  unable  to  bring  their  broadsides  into  play, 
the  remaining  monitors  were  handled  with  conspicuous 
gallantry.  They  ran  close  up  to  the  fort  and  kept  up 
a  heavy  fire  of  grape  and  canister,  which  acted  as  a 
partial  check  on  the  enemy's  gunners  and  prevented  a 
more  serious  loss  of  life  in  the  wooden  ships.  The 
Winnebago  was  so  near  the  fort  that  a  stone's  throw 
would  have  measured  the  distance,  and  at  intervals 
above  the  roar  of  battle  could  be  distinctly  heard  the 
officers  in  the  fort  directing  the  fire  of  the  batteries. 
The  monitors  were  repeatedly  struck  by  the  heaviest 
shot,  and  were  damaged  to  a  considerable  extent.  The 
temporary  house  built  on  the  deck  of  the  Winnebago — 
abaft  the  after  turret,  for  the  messing  and  sleeping 
quarters  of  the  officers — was  riddled  with  shot,  all  the 
boats  except  one  were  destroyed,  and  the  davits  were 
saved  only  by  having  been  unshipped  and  stowed 
away.  Her  after  turret  became  so  jammed  that  it 
could  not  be  turned,  and  the  gunners  could  fire  only 


1864.  STEVENS'  GALLANTRY.  425 

when  the  vessel  was  headed  in  the  right  direction. 
One  of  the  Manhattan's  15-inch  guns  was  disabled 
by  a  piece  of  iron  falling  into  the  vent.  The  CJiick- 
asaitfs  smokestack  was  pierced  through  and  through, 
which  so  affected  the  draft  that  her  steam  went  down  ; 
but  this  was  partially  remedied  by  throwing  tallow  and 
coal-tar  on  the  fire.  The  Winnebago  was  struck  nine- 
teen times,  three  of  the  shot  penetrating  her  deck. 

At  this  stage  of  the  action  Commander  Stevens, 
whose  father  had  taken  a  gallant  part  in  the  battle  of 
Lake  Erie  in  1813,  especially  aroused  the  admiration  of 
the  officers  of  the  flagship  and  other  vessels  of  the  fleet 
by  the  cool  deliberation  with  which  he  walked  back 
and  forth  from  one  turret  to  another,  exposed  to  the 
enemy's  fire  on  the  deck  of  the  Winnebago.  "About 
7.30  A.  M.,  while  on  deck  directing  the  fire  of  our  guns," 
wrote  Rear- Admiral  Stevens  to  the  author,  "and  watch- 
ing the  course  steered  by  the  pilot  of  the  Winnebago, 
who  was  in  the  pilot-house,  I  became  uneasy  lest  he 
might  get  too  close  to  the  sand  point  making  off  south- 
west from  the  sea  face  of  Fort  Morgan,  and  went  from 
the  after  to  the  forward  turret  of  the  vessel  to  direct 
him  to  give  the  point  a  little  wider  berth.  By  the 
time  we  were  abreast  of  Fort  Morgan  we  were  pouring 
grape  and  canister,  while  the  sabots  from  the  projec- 
tiles of  our  heavy  vessels,  which  were  firing  over  us, 
were  falling  freely  upon  our  decks." 

The  view  of  the  battle  obtained  from  the  tops  of  the 
National  vessels  was  one  of  appalling  grandeur.  To 
windward  the  fleet  and  harbor  were  spread  out  in  a 
beautiful  panorama,  the  crews  being  distinctly  seen 
firing  and  reloading  their  guns,  while  officers  stood  at 
the  back  of  their  men  to  see  that  there  was  no  flinch- 
ing, and  others  ran  to  and  fro  shouting  orders  in  their 
endeavors  to  prevent  a  collision.  To  leeward  dense 
volumes  of  smoke,  illuminated  by  rapid  flashes  of  guns, 
partly  obstructed  the  vision,  but  in  the  occasional 
rifts  a  tall  mast  with  men  in  the  rigging  and  with 


426  FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

Old  Glory  still  flying  in  the  breeze  would  be  revealed. 
Above  all  rose  the  dreadful  roar  of  the  tremendous 
cannonading,  whose  sharp  impact  upon  the  ear,  giving 
the  peculiar  sound  of  shotted  guns,  seemed  to  come 
from  all  quarters  with  deafening  rapidity,  while  the 
ships  and  their  masts  quivered  like  aspens  from  the 
recoil  of  their  murderous  broadsides.  A  glance  below 
on  the  deck  of  the  Hartford  revealed  the  men  in  their 
different  capacities,  some  loading  and  aiming  the  guns, 
some  bringing  up  ammunition,  and  others  carrying 
down  the  wounded,  but  all  stimulated  to  their  utmost 
exertions  by  the  ever-vigilant  officers.  Most  of  the 
men  were  stripped  to  the  waist,  many  of  them  smeared 
with  the  blood  of  shipmates  whom  they  had  carried 
below.  Others,  although  wounded,  refused  to  go  be- 
low, and  remained  on  deck  fighting.  What  a  pan- 
demonium !  What  a  hell  upon  earth  !  !  Shot,  shell, 
grape,  shrapnel  and  canister.  How  they  shriek !  how 
the  men  fight!  dragging  dead  or  wounded  shipmates 
away,  so  as  not  to  encumber  the  guns.  Bloody  and 
blackened  with  burned  powder,  the  perspiration  run- 
ning down  their  bodies  revealing  streaks  of  white  skin, 
causes  them  to  look  like  fiends.  The  sight  of  their 
fallen  shipmates  arouses  the  brutish  thirst  for  venge- 
ance, and  they  load  and  tire  with  muttered  impreca- 
tions on  the  enemy.  Their  officers  walk  among  them, 
with  "Steady,  boys  !  "  " Take  your  time  !  "  "Be  sure 
of  your  aim  ! "  "  Let  each  shot  tell !  "  In  the  midst  of 
all  this  uproar  stand  Drayton  and  his  executive  officer, 
Kimberly,  the  latter  smiling  and  twirling  his  goatee, 
both  as  cool  as  if  "  twa  a  daily  drill."  It  was  in  refer- 
ence to  the  heroism  of  the  crew  that  Brownell  wrote : 

But  ah,  the  pluck  of  the  crew  ! 
Had  you  stood  on  that  deck  of  ours 
You  had  seen  what  men  may  do. 

The  position  of  the  Brooklyn  made  it  impossible 
for  the  Hartford  to  take  the  lead,  and  when  Far- 


1864.  "DAMN  THE  TORPEDOES!"  427 

ragut  saw  that  Captain  Alden  did  not  go  ahead  he 
said  to  his  pilot,  "  What  is  the  matter  with  the 
Brooklyn  f  She  must  have  plenty  of  water  there." 
"Plenty,  and  to  spare,  Admiral,"  replied  the  pilot. 
The  next  moment  the  Brooklyn  was  signaled,  "What's 
the  trouble?"  "Torpedoes,"  was  the  reply.  This  was 
the  critical  moment  of  the  battle.  There  was  no  time 
for  counsel.  The  ships  were  fast  drifting  on  the  line 
of  torpedoes,  and  were  in  imminent  danger  of  sink- 
ing each  other.  Whether  the  fleet  was  to  suffer  an 
inglorious  defeat  or  win  a  great  victory  depended  upon 
the  next  order  of  Admiral  Farragut.  The  tremen- 
dous cheering  and  renewed  firing  of  the  Confederates 
showed  that  they  regarded  the  victory  as  theirs. 
Again  the  message  came  from  the  Brooklyn,  "Tell 
the  admiral  that  there  is  a  heavy  line  of  torpedoes 
ahead."  Taking  in  the  situation  at  a  glance,  Farra- 
gut shouted:  "Damn  the  torpedoes!  damn  the  torpe- 
does !  !  *  Go  ahead,  Captain  Drayton  !  Four  bells  ! !  " 
The  Metacomet  then  backed  at  full  speed  until  the 
Hartford  was  twisted  clear  of  the  Brooklyn,  when 
Jouett  asked  if  he  should  go  ahead.  The  Hartford's 
pilot  answered  with  a  nod,  and  held  up  four  fingers, 
meaning  four  bells  (full  speed),  for  the  roar  of  battle 
rendered  speaking  at  that  distance  difficult,  and  the 
Hartford  cleared  the  Brooklyn  and  took  the  lead. 

"  The  effect  of  this  order,"  wrote  Rear- Admiral 
Stevens,  "was  magical  in  restoring  the  line  of  battle. 
Order  grew  out  of  chaos,  men  sprang  to  their  guns 
with  renewed  vigor,  again  the  air  was  tilled  with  burst- 
ing shells  and  the  roar  of  guns  from  the  Union  fleet." 
The  position  of  the  Brooklyn  rendered  it  impossible 
for  the  Hartford  to  take  the  lead  without  passing  to 
the  west  of  the  red  buoy  or  directly  across  the  fatal 
line  of  torpedoes  which  but  a  few  seconds  before  had 


1  "  The  only  approach  to  an  oath  I  ever  heard  him  utter."— Rear- 
Admiral  Jouett. 


428  FARRAGUT   PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864 

sunk  the  Tecumseh.  Farragut's  order  was  one  of  the 
boldest  and  most  courageous  in  naval  history.  Many 
eyes  watched  the  result  with  painful  anxiety.  Every 
moment  they  expected  to  see  the  masts  of  the  Hartford 
thrown  into  the  air,  her  hull  rent  into  fragments,  and 
her  crew  and  daring  commander  blown  to  atoms.  But 
on  went  the  flagship,  without  delay  or  hesitation, 
toward  the  fatal  torpedoes.  An  almost  unbroken  si- 
lence pervaded  her  decks  as  the  officers  and  men,  in 
grim  silence,  stood  in  momentary  expectation  of  being 
blown  into  eternity.  The  frigate  soon  reached  the  fatal 
line.  Her  bow  began  to  pass  over  the  torpedoes.  The 
men  in  the  magazines,  away  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
ship,  heard  strange  objects  grating  along  her  hull  as 
she  continued  steadily  on  her  course.  But  fortunately 
none  of  the  machines  exploded,  and  as  the  grand  ship 
of  war  passed  beyond  the  fatal  line  in  safety  the  spec- 
tators realized  that  one  of  the  most  daring  feats  in  the 
naval  history  of  the  world  had  been  accomplished. 

A  Confederate  officer  who  was  stationed  in  the 
water-battery  at  Fort  Morgan  says:  "The  manoeuvring 
of  the  vessels  at  this  critical  juncture  was  a  magnificent 
sight.  At  first  the  ships  appeared  to  be  in  inextricable 
confusion,  and  at  the  mercy  of  the  guns.  But  when 
the  Hartford  dashed  forward  they  realized  that  a  grand 
tactical  movement  had  been  accomplished."  ''Farra- 
gut's coolness  and  quick  perception,"  said  General  Page, 
"  saved  the  Union  fleet  from  a  great  disaster,  and  prob- 
ably from  destruction." 

As  the  Hartford  thus  took  the  lead  she  passed 
about  two  hundred  yards  ahead  of  the  Tennessee, 
which  was  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  ram.  Lieu- 
tenant Wharton,  of  the  Tennessee,  had  loaded  the 
forward  7-inch  rifled  gun  with  a  percussion  shell,  be- 
lieving, and  with  good  reason,  that  it  would  sink  the 
flagship  under  the  guns  of  the  fort.  This  done,  the 
destruction  of  the  remainder  of  the  fleet  seemed  to  be 
assured.  Lieutenant  Wharton  writes:  "I  took  the 


1864  CONFUSION'  IN  TEE  LINE.  429 

lock- string  from  the  captain  of  the  gnn  myself,  took  a 
long,  deliberate  aim,  and  gave  the  command  :  '  Raise  ! ' 
'  Steady  ! '  *  Raise  ! '  *  Little  more  ! '  '  Ready  ! '  '  Fire  ! ' 
I  was  as  confident  that  our  shell  would  tear  a  hole  in 
the  Hartford'1  s  side  big  enough  to  sink  her  in  a  few 
minutes  as  I  was  that  I  had  fired  it.  It  did  tear  the 
hole  expected,  but  it  was  above  the  water  line.  I  have 
often  speculated  since  upon  the  effect  of  not  having 
raised  the  breech  of  our  bow  gun,  and  thus  caused  that 
shell  to  ricochet  before  striking  the  Hartford.  I  wish 
I  had  let  the  captain  of  the  gun  fire  the  piece  himself." 
Buchanan  endeavored  to  ram  the  Hartford  and  sink 
her,  as  he  had  sunk  the  Cumberland  at  Hampton  Roads, 
but  Farragut  avoided  this  by  turning  to  one  side,  and 
continued  up  the  channel. 

When  the  Hartford  passed  the  line  of  torpedoes 
and  thus  took  the  lead  of  the  column,  she  left  the 
Brooklyn  and  her  consort,  the  Octorara,  lying  with 
their  bows  toward  Fort  Morgan,  receiving  a  tremen- 
dous raking  fire.  The  Richmond  and  her  consort,  the 
Port  Royal,  which  were  close  behind,  were  carried 
rapidly  forward  by  the  flood  tide,  and  a  collision 
seemed  inevitable.  Knowing  that  if  the  four  vessels 
became  entangled  in  the  narrow  channel — or,  worse  yet, 
if  one  or  more  of  them  were  sunk — it  would  prevent 
the  other  vessels  of  the  fleet  from  passing  up  the  bay 
to  the  aid  of  their  flagship,  Captain  Jenkins  gave  the 
order  for  the  Richmond  and  her  consort  to  back.  He, 
like  the  other  Union  commanders  who  had  seen  the 
Hartford  pass  above  the  fort,  was  extremely  anxious 
for  the  admiral's  safety,  as  the  smoke  of  battle  made 
it  impossible  to  see  all  that  was  occurring  above  the 
line  of  torpedoes.  He  only  knew  that  the  terrible  ram 
and  her  three  consorts  were  lying  in  readiness  to  at- 
tack the  first  vessel  that  passed  the  fort,  and  that  the 
Hartford  and  Metacomet  were  quite  alone  to  contend 
with  the  enemy's  naval  force.  This  fact  seems  to  have 
been  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  Union  officers  at 


430  FARRAGUT   PASSES  FORT   MORGAN.  1864. 

this  period  of  the  battle,  and  they  exerted  themselves 
to  the  utmost  to  get  once  more  within  supporting  dis- 
tance of  their  famous  leader.  In  backing,  the  Rich- 
mond's bow  fell  off  to  port  and  enabled  her  gunners 
to  open  such  an  effective  tire  from  the  starboard  bat- 
teries, at  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  that 
the  Confederates  were  again  driven  from  their  water- 
battery.  The  Richmond  had  her  topmasts  down,  and 
so  rapid  was  her  fire  at  this  moment  that  she  was  com- 
pletely enveloped  in  smoke.  Admiral  Buchanan,  of 
the  Tennessee,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Captain 
Jenkins  (having  had  him  as  a  midshipman  before  the 
war,  and  again  as  his  first  lieutenant  during  the  Mexi- 
can War),  lost  sight  of  the  Richmond,  owing  to  this 
circumstance,  and  after  the  battle  he  asked:  "What 
became  of  Jenkins  ?  I  saw  his  vessel  go  handsomely 
into  action  and  then  lost  sight  of  her  entirely."1  The 
Brooklyn  was  less  fortunate  in  being  concealed  from 
the  enemy,  for  her  tall  masts,  which  had  not  been  low- 
ered before  the  action,  enabled  the  Confederate  gun- 
ners to  aim  at  her  with  considerable  accuracy,  and  all 
this  time  she  lay  bow-on,  receiving  a  dreadful  raking 
fire  from  the  fort. 

The  situation  of  the  Union  vessels,  entangled  off 
Fort  Morgan,  was  rendered  more  critical  by  the  shoal 
water ;  and  while  the  frequent  backing  and  running 
ahead  were  going  on,  Captain  Jenkins  at  one  time  was 
compelled  to  navigate  his  ship  with  less  than  afoot  of 
water  under  his  keel.  Farragut's  adage  that  "  the 
safest  way  to  prevent  injury  from  an  enemy  is  to  strike 
hard  yourself  "  was  never  better  illustrated  than  in  this 
battle.  He  had  given  orders  for  the  vessels  to  run  close 
to  Fort  Morgan,  and  to  use  plenty  of  grape  and  shrap- 
nel, and  it  was  this  terrible  storm  of  iron  and  the  dense 
volume  of  smoke  from  the  cannonading  that  discom- 
fited and  blinded  the  Confederate  gunners.  Finally, 

1  Mahan's  Gulf  and  Inland  Waters,  p.  235. 


1864.  RAMMING   THE  TENNESSEE.  431 

after  great  risks  of  collision,  the  Richmond  and  her 
consort  were  extricated  from  their  perilous  position  and 
once  again  were  steaming  up  the  channel,  with  the 
Brooklyn  and  the  rest  of  the  wooden  ships  close  be- 
hind. In  this  manner  the  head  of  the  column  passed 
the  fort,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  monitors  kept  up  such 
a  terrific  fire  that  the  enemy  was  scarcely  able  to  reply. 

But  as  the  heavier  ships  passed  up  the  bay  and  out 
of  range,  the  smaller  vessels  in  the  rear  of  the  line 
were  severely  punished  by  the  guns  of  the  fort.  One 
7-inch  shell  passed  through  the  OneidcCs  chain  armor 
and  pierced  her  boiler,  the  escaping  steam  injuring 
thirteen  men.  For  a  moment  one  of  the  gun-crews 
wavered,  but  Commander  Mullany  cried  out,  "Back 
to  your  quarters,  men ! "  and  they  returned  to  their 
stations.  Another  7-inch  shell  exploded  in  her  cabin 
and  severed  the  wheel-ropes,  and  about  the  same  time 
one  of  her  11 -inch  bow  guns  and  an  8-inch  gun  were 
disabled.  Her  consort,  the  Galena,  was  uninjured,  and 
succeeded  in  carrying  the  disabled  Oneida  past  the  fort. 

At  this  stage  of  the  action  the  Tennessee,  having 
missed  the  Hartford  and  the  Metacomet,  was  observed 
coming  down  the  channel  to  attack  the  remaining  ves- 
sels. "  As  she  approached,"  wrote  Captain  Jenkins,  of 
the  Richmond,  "  every  one  in  the  Richmond  supposed 
that  she  would  ram  the  Brooklyn ;  that,  we  thought, 
would  be  our  opportunity,  for  if  she  struck  the  Brook- 
lyn the  concussion  would  throw  her  port  side  across 
our  path,  and,  being  so  near  to  us,  she  would  not  have 
time  to  straighten  up,  and  we  would  strike  her  fairly 
and  squarely,  and  most  likely  sink  her.  The  guns  were 
loaded  with  solid  shot  and  with  the  heaviest  charges  of 
powder ;  the  forecastle  gun  crew  was  ordered  to  get  its 
small  arms  and  fire  into  her  gun  ports  ;  and,  as  previ- 
ously determined,  if  we  came  into  collision  at  any  time, 
orders  were  given  to  throw  gun  charges  of  powder  and 
bags  from  the  fore  and  main  yardarms  down  her  smoke- 
stack. To  our  great  surprise,  she  sheered  off  from  the 


432  FARRAGUT  PASSES  FORT  MORGAN.  1864. 

Brooklyn,  and  at  about  a  hundred  yards  put  two  shot 
or  shells  through  and  through  the  Brooklyn's  side, 
doing  much  damage."1 

After  passing  the  Brooklyn,  as  just  described,  the 
ram  made  for  the  Richmond  and  the  Port  Royal. 
Captain  Jenkins  had  his  broadside  ready  and  fired  at 
short  range,  producing  no  more  effect  upon  the  mailed 
side  of  the  ram,  however,  than  so  many  pebbles.  As 
the  ram  passed  the  starboard  side  of  the  Richmond 
Buchanan  fired  two  shot,  but  owing  to  the  lively  mus- 
ketry fire  played  into  his  ports  the  gunners  missed  \ 
their  aim.  One  of  the  shot  passed  uncomfortably  close 
to  Lieutenant  Terry's  head,  and  the  other  passed  just 
under  the  feet  of  the  pilot  and  cut  a  ratline  in  the 
port  main  shrouds.  The  Richmond  fired  three  full  and 
well-aimed  broadsides  of  9-inch  solid  shot,  each  broad- 
side consisting  of  eleven  guns,  but  without  any  ap- 
parent effect  upon  the  ram.  Like  the  flagship,  the 
Richmond  was  compelled  to  cross  the  line  of  torpedoes, 
and  the  men  in  the  Richmond  also  heard  the  torpedoes 
scraping  along  the  hull  of  their  vessel. 

As  Buchanan  approached  the  next  brace  of  ships  in 
the  column,  the  Laclcawanna  and  the  Seminole,  he 
suddenly  made  a  sheer  as  if  to  ram  the  former,  but 
owing  to  her  imperfect  machinery  the  Tennessee  could 
not  execute  the  manoeuvre  in  time,  and  only  succeeded 
in  placing  herself  athwart  the  course  of  the  Union 
ships.  This  gave  the  Monongahela  (which  had  been 
provided  with  an  artificial  iron  prow),  the  ship  directly 
behind  the  Lackawanna,  an  admirable  chance  for  ram- 
ming, and  Commander  Strong  put  his  helm  to  port  and 
then  sheered  around  so  as  to  strike  the  ram  at  right 
angles.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if  he  would  be  suc- 
cessful, but  the  Kennebec,  which  was  lashed  alongside, 
prevented  him  from  getting  full  speed,  and  he  merely 
struck  the  ram  a  glancing  blow  on  the  port  quarter,  at 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  iv,  p.  393. 

• 


1864.  THE  RAM  AMONG  THE   SMALLER  SHIPS.  433 

the  same  time  pouring  in  a  broadside  of  solid  11-inch 
shot,  which,  like  the  others,  glanced  harmlessly  off  the 
mailed  side  of  the  ram. 

This  blow  had  the  effect  of  throwing  the  Tennessee's 
stern  around  so  that  she  was  again  heading  straight 
down  the  channel,  but  on  the  port  side  of  the  Union 
column.  She  rasped  along  the  port  side  of  the  Ken- 
nebec,  scraping  the  planking  and  leaving  one  of  her 
boats  and  an  iron  davit  clinging  to  the  Kennebec  as 
a  memento  of  their  meeting.  A  shell  from  the  ram  no\v 
exploded  on  the  berth  deck  of  the  Kennebcc,  wound- 
ing an  officer  and  four  men.  About  this  time  First- 
Lieutenant  Roderick  Prentiss,  of  the  Monongahela, 
was  mortally  wounded,  both  of  his  legs  being  taken  off. 
At  the  moment  of  the  collision  with  the  Monongahela 
the  Kennebec 's  cutwater  passed  through  the  ram's 
barge,  completely  destroying  it.  The  shell  from  the 
ram  caused  a  fire  on  the  Kennebec's  berth  deck,  and 
for  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if  the  vessel  would  be  de- 
stroyed, but  by  the  intrepid  efforts  of  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander McCann  and  his  officers  it  was  extinguished. 

The  next  ship  in  line  was  the  Ossipee,  which  at  the 
time  the  ram  changed  her  position  from  the  starboard 
to  the  port  side  of  the  wooden  ships  was  on  the  port 
quarter  of  the  Monongahela ;  and  when  Commander 
Le  Roy  saw  his  leader  preparing  to  ram,  he  also  fol- 
lowed the  Monongahela }s  motion.  But  as  the  Tennes- 
see swung  round  under  the  pressure  of  the  Mononga- 
held's  blow,  Admiral  Buchanan  passed  between  the  two 
Union  vessels,  and  two  shot  from  the  ram  entered  be- 
low the  Ossipee's  spar  deck,  close  together,  just  abreast 
the  forward  pivot  gun.  About  this  time  Lieutenant- 
Commander  George  Brown,  of  the  Itasca,  was  painfully 
injured  by  a  splinter.  The  executive  officer  of  the 
Ossipee,  which  was  lashed  alongside,  called  out  to  him, 
"What's  the  matter,  Brown?  Have  you  been  struck  by 
a  splinter?"  "You  may  call  it  a  splinter  in  your  big 
vessel,"  roared  Brown  in  reply,  "but  aboard  this  little 

73 


434  FAEEAGUT  PASSES   FOET  MOEGAN.  1864. 

craft  it  ranks  as  a  log  of  wood."  Running  on  the  star- 
board side  of  the  Oneida,  which  had  been  crippled 
early  in  the  action  and  was  in  tow  of  her  consort,  the 
Galena,  Buchanan  endeavored  several  times  to  fire  a 
broadside  into  her,  but  his  primers  failed,  so  that  only 
one  gun  was  discharged,  the  shot  striking  the  after  11- 
inch  pivot  gun,  which  had  just  been  fired. 

At  8.20  A.  M.  the  Confederate  ironclad  passed  under 
the  Oneida?  s  stern  and  delivered  a  raking  fire,  which 
dismounted  a  12-pounder  howitzer  on  the  poop  deck, 
and  also  carried  away  Commander  Mullany's  left  arm. 
While  David  Nay  lor,  the  powder-boy  of  the  30-pounder 
Parrott  gun  in  the  Oneida,  was  running  along  the  deck 
his  passing-box  was  knocked  out  of  his  hands  and  fell 
overboard  into  a  boat  that  was  towing  alongside.  He 
jumped  overboard  after  it,  recovered  his  box,  and  re- 
turned to  his  duties  as  though  nothing  had  happened. 

At  this  stage  of  the  action  occurred  one  of  those 
spirited  incidents  that  always  appeal  to  the  hearts  of 
brave  men.  Commander  Stevens  had  been  the  com- 
mander of  the  Oneida,  and  was  greatly  attached  to  the 
officers  and  men  of  that  ship.  Just  before  the  battle, 
Commander  Mullany,  whose  ship  was  not  fitted  for  such 
an  engagement,  earnestly  entreated  that  a  suitable  vessel 
might  be  given  to  him  so  that  he  could  take  part  in 
the  battle.  In  response  to  this  request  Stevens  gave 
up  the  Oneida  and  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
monitor  Winnebago,  while  Mullany  took  the  Oneida, 
and,  as  we  have  just  seen,  lost  an  arm  by  his  devotion 
to  the  cause.  The  other  vessels  of  the  Union  fleet, 
having  their  full  head  of  steam,  were  able  to  avoid  the 
ram,  but  the  Oneida,  having  her  boiler  pierced,  was 
dependent  entirely  upon  the  Galena,  which  reduced 
the  speed  of  both  vessels  so  much  that  both  were  com- 
pletely at  the  mercy  of  Buchanan.  When  Commander 
Stevens  saw  the  predicament  of  his  old  ship  and  for- 
mer crew,  he  hastened  to  their  defense,  and  just  as  the 
Tennessee  was  passing  under  the  stern  of  the  helpless 


1864.  HEROIC   OFFICERS.  435 

Oneida  he  placed  the  Winnebago  between  the  ram  and 
the  Oneida  and  harassed  Buchanan  until  the  wooden 
vessels  were  beyond  his  reach.  When  the  people  in  the 
Oneida,  who  had  every  reason  to  expect  that  they  would 
be  sent  to  the  bottom  at  the  first  blow  of  their  huge  an- 
tagonist, saw  the  Winnebago  come  to  their  rescue  they 
jumped  upon  the  bulwarks  and  gave  three  heartfelt 
cheers  for  their  old  commander.  Stevens,  who  had  re- 
mained outside  of  the  turrets  of  the  Winnebago  from 
the  beginning  of  the  battle,  at  this  moment  was  stand- 
ing on  the  open  deck  on  the  starboard  side,  or  that 
nearest  to  the  ram,  directing  a  broadside  of  solid  shot 
to  be  fired  into  the  enemy.  Hearing  the  cheers,  he 
stepped  to  the  port  side  and  took  off  his  hat  in  ac- 
knowledgment. 

Lieutenant-Commander  George  H.  Perkins,  of  the 
Cliickasaw,  and  Volunteer  Lieutenant  William  Hamil- 
ton were  starting  for  the  North  on  a  leave  of  absence 
just  before  the  battle,  but  learning  that  an  attack  was 
to  be  made  on  Mobile,  they  asked  permission  to  take 
part  in  the  fight.  Lieutenant  J.  C.  Watson  entered  the 
fight  under  similar  circumstances.  Farragut  wrote  of 
him  :  "I  would  not  advise  Watson  to  go  home  for  the 
world ;  it  would  break  his  heart.  He  thinks  he  is 
bound  to  see  the  war  out." 

Seeing  that  her  prey  was  veritably  snatched  from 
her  jaws,  the  Tennessee  ran  under  the  guns  of  Fort 
Morgan  for  a  "breathing- spell,"  while  the  Union  ves- 
sels proceeded  on  their  way  up  the  channel.  About  this 
time  the  ram's  colors  were  shot  away,  but  they  were 
soon  replaced.  Lieutenant-Commander  DeKrafft  had 
formed  his  flotilla  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent  and  opened 
a  spirited  fire  on  Fort  Powell. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS. 

WHILE  the  Hartford  was  boldly  passing  through 
the  line  of  torpedoes,  the  Confederate  gunboats  Selma, 
Morgan  and  Gaines  seized  their  opportunity  of  de- 
livering a  terrific  raking  fire  upon  the  flagship.  Know- 
ing that  the  big  sloop-of-war  could  not  readily  turn  in 
the  narrow  channel,  the  commander  of  the  Selma  kept 
his  vessel  from  seven  hundred  to  a  thousand  yards 
straight  ahead,  so  that  his  stern  guns  could  bear  on  the 
Hartford,  while  Farragut  could  only  bring  a  few  bow 
chasers  into  play,  one  of  which  was  soon  disabled  by  a 
shell  bursting  under  it.  One  shot  from  the  Selma 
killed  ten  men  and  wounded  five  in  the  forecastle  divi- 
sion, the  fragments  of  their  bodies  being  blown  upon 
the  deck  of  the  Metacomet.  Many  of  the  gun  crews 
were  reduced  to  half  of  their  number.  Although  most 
of  the  men  were  newly  enlisted,  great  steadiness  was 
shown  by  them,  and  the  vacancies  were  promptly  filled 
up.  Farragut  was  able  to  deliver  one  or  two  broad- 
sides at  the  Gaines,  and  the  splendid  marksmanship 
of  the  Union  gunners  was  never  shown  to  better  ad- 
vantage. In  less  than  half  an  hour  the  Gaines  was 
aground  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Morgan  and  deserted. 

Finding  that  the  gunboats  were  occasioning  serious 
damage,  and  observing  that  the  last  of  the  Union  ves- 
sels was  safely  past  Fort  Morgan,  Farragut  at  8.02 
A.  M.  gave  the  signal,  "Gunboats  chase  enemy's  gnn- 
boats."  Jouett,  of  the  Metacomet,  had  repeatedly 
asked  for  permission  to  go  in  chase,  and,  now  that  it 
was  given,  he  ordered  the  men  to  cut  the  heavy 

436 


1864.     CHASE  AFTER  THE  CONFEDERATE  GUNBOATS.      437 

hawsers  with  sharp  broadaxes,  and  he  backed  clear 
of  the  Hartford  and  went,  at  8.05,  in  chase  of  the 
gunboats.  The  Port  Royal,  the  Kennebec  and  the 
Itasca  also  joined  in  the  pursuit,  but  being  without 
pilots  they  accomplished  little.  The  Morgan,  taking 
advantage  of  a  heavy  rain  and  a  dense  fog  that  came 
over  the  bay,  succeeded  in  running  under  the  guns  of 
Fort  Morgan,  and  on  the  following  night,  by  going 
slowly  and  covering  her  lights,  she  made  her  escape 
to  Mobile.  It  was  afterward  learned  that  the  Mor- 
gan, on  receiving  a  broadside  from  the  Metacomet, 
hauled  down  her  colors,  but  as  the  rainstorm  came  on 
at  that  moment  her  surrender  was  not  known,  and,  re- 
hoisting  her  flag,  she  made  her  escape.  The  Metacomet, 
being  the  fastest  gunboat  in  the  fleet,  soon  outstripped 
the  others  and  made  after  the  Selma.  As  his  ship  could 
not  fire  directly  ahead,  Jouett  at  first  yawed  once  or 
twice  to  fire  his  guns,  but  finding  that  he  was  losing 
ground  by  so  doing  he  settled  down  to  a  dogged  pur- 
suit. ''  I  had  given  my  pilot  to  the  gallant  Craven,  of 
the  ill-fated  Tecumseh,  and  having  no  time  to  consult 
the  chart  and  knowing  nothing  of  the  channel,  and  as 
the  admiral's  instructions  were  imperative — not  to  allow 
any  of  the  Confederate  gunboats  to  reach  Mobile — I 
abandoned  the  attempt  to  fight  with  my  guns  in  this 
running  chase."  Being  more  familiar  with  the  bay, 
the  pilot  of  the  Selma  led  the  Metacomet  into  shoal 
water.  This  fact  was  conveyed  to  Jouett  from  time  to 
time  by  the  leadsman,  until  at  last  less  than  a  foot  of 
water  under  the  Metacomefs  keel  was  reported.  The 
situation  was  critical,  for  the  Metacomet  was  far  be- 
yond supporting  distance  of  her  consorts,  and  should 
she  run  aground  the  Selma  undoubtedly  would  turn 
back  and,  selecting  a  position  where  the  National  gun- 
boat could  not  return  the  fire,  would  soon  compel  her 
surrender.  Jouett  was  an  officer,  however,  who  knew 
only  one  duty — "obey  orders";  and  as  the  leadsman 
continued  to  call  out  the  alarming  soundings  Jouett 


438  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE   FORTS.  1864. 

finally  exclaimed  to  his  executive  officer:  "Mr.  Sleep- 
er, order  that  man  out  of  the  chains !  He  makes  me 
nervous "  ;  and  the  Metacomet,  trembling  under  the 
heavy  pressure  of  steam,  went  plowing  through  the 
soft  mud  after  the  Selma.  When  the  squall  that  for 
a  time  concealed  the  enemy's  gunboats  cleared  up, 
Jouett  found  himself  on  the  starboard  bow  of  the  Sel- 
ma,  which  at  9.10  A.  M.,  surrendered.  Her  commander, 
P.  U.  Murphy,  had  been  wounded  in  the  wrist,  while 
his  executive  officer,  Lieutenant  J.  H.  Com  stock,  and 
seven  men  were  killed.  "The  coolness  and  prompt- 
ness of  Lieutenant-Commander  Jouett,"  wrote  Farra- 
gut  in  his  official  report,  "merit  high  praise."  In  this 
fight  the  Metacomefs  rigging  was  badly  cut,  and  she 
was  struck  eleven  times  in  the  hull. 

Before  the  war,  Commander  Murphy,  then  a  lieu- 
tenant, was  very  kind  to  Jouett,  who  was  then  a  mid- 
shipman. Remembering  that  Murphy  was  fond  of 
good  eating,  Jouett,  while  at  Pensacola  two  days  be- 
fore the  battler  purchased  a  quantity  of  crabs  and 
oysters  and  placed  them  on  ice.  When  he  was  block- 
ading off  Mobile  harbor  the  three  Confederate  gunboats 
came  down  and  lay  under  Fort  Morgan.  Knowing 
who  commanded  them,  Jouett  often  remarked  to  the 
officers  that  he  was  fond  of  "  Murphy  "  and  that  he  in- 
tended to  catch  him,  and  always  kept  on  hand  some 
good  wines  and  cigars  for  him.  It  so  happened  that 
Jouett  did  catch  him,  and  as  soon  as  the  fight  was  over 
he  ordered  his  steward  to  prepare  a  breakfast.  When 
the  Selma  struck  her  colors,  Murphy,  who  was  about 
sixty-five  years  old,  tall,  erect  and  with  long  snow- 
white  hair  and  beard,  having  his  right  arm  in  a  sling, 
came  on  board  the  Metacomet  to  surrender  his  sword. 
Ascending  the  gangway,  he  stepped  on  deck,  when  his 
aid  advanced  and  handed  him  his  sword.  Jouett  had 
sent  all  the  crew  forward  in  order  that  Murphy  might 
not  be  unnecessarily  mortified,  and  no  one  was  with 
him  at  the  gangway  save  the  officer  of  the  deck  and 


1864.  A   BREATHING  SPELL.  439 

Lieutenant  Sleeper ;  the  other  officers  were  on  the  port 
side  of  the  quarter-deck.  Murphy  turned,  drew  him- 
self up  to  his  full  height,  held  out  his  sword  and  began 
a  nice  speech,  but  Jouett  took  his  hand  and,  putting 
an  arm  on  his  back,  said:  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you, 
Murphy.  Come  on  ;  your  breakfast  has  been  waiting 
some  time."  Going  into  the  cabin,  Murphy  saw  a 
beautiful  table  laden  with  oysters,  crabs,  beefsteaks, 
wines  etc.  Turning  to  Jouett  in  astonishment,  he  said, 
"Why  didn't  you  let  me  know  you  had  all  this?  I 
would  have  surrendered  sooner."  And  the  officers  sat 
down  at  the  table  as  though  they  had  never  drawn 
swords  against  each  other. 

With  the  successful  passage  of  Fort  Morgan  and 
the  dangerous  line  of  torpedoes,  the  dispersion  of  the 
Confederate  gunboats  and  the  retreat  of  the  Tennes- 
see under  the  guns  of  the  water-battery,  Farragut  was 
left  in  undisputed  possession  of  Mobile  Bay,  and  he 
now  brought  his  fleet  to  anchor  about  four  miles  above 
Fort  Morgan.  Captain  Drayton  about  this  time  said 
to  him  :  "  What  we  have  done  has  been  well  done,  sir ; 
but  it  all  counts  for  nothing  so  long  as  the  Tennessee 
is  there  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Morgan."  Farragut 
replied,  "I  know  it,  and  as  soon  as  the  people  have 
had  their  breakfast  I  am  going  for  her."  This  plan, 
however,  seems  to  have  been  abandoned,  for  he  wrote, 
"Had  Buchanan  remained  under  the  fort  I  should 
have  attacked  him,  as  soon  as  it  became  dark,  with 
the  monitors."  His  second  plan  was  to  change  his  flag 
to  the  Manhattan  and  attack  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness and  the  smoke  of  battle,  when  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  the  gunners  in  Fort  Morgan  to  distinguish 
between  friend  and  foe.  The  belief  was  prevalent 
among  the  National  officers  that  the  battle,  for  some 
time  at  least,  was  over,  and  the  crews  were  engaged  in 
clearing  away  the  dreadful  debris,  in  washing  out  the 
blood-stains  and  in  removing  the  fragments  of  bodies 
that  were  strewn  over  their  decks. 


440 


ABOVE   THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1864. 


In  the  distance  the  ram  Tennessee  could  be  seen 
under  the  guns  of  Fort  Morgan  steaming  and  smoking 
like  some  huge  monster  taking  breath  after  a  desperate 
struggle.  The  intense  excitement  of  battle  was  over, 
the  strained  nerves  were  relaxed,  and  the  serious,  de- 
termined expression  on  the  faces  of  the  officers  had 
changed  into  smiles  of  congratulation  as  those  off  duty 
assembled  in  the  wardroom  to  discuss  the  exciting  work 
of  the  morning  or  to  make  inquiry  for  missing  friends. 
The  cooks  and  mess  boys  were  hurrying  about  the 
decks  with  their  preparations  for  breakfast.  Among 
the  men  the  same  air  of  relaxation  and  relief  was  ob- 
servable. Those  who  had  been  intrusted  with  little 
keepsakes  intended  for  some  loved  one  far  away  in 
the  North,  in  case  "something  should  happen  to  me," 
were  returning  them  to  their  owners.  But  an  occa- 
sional stifled  groan  coming  up  from  the  cockpit,  as  the 
surgeons  performed  their  tasks,  was  a  painful  reminder 
of  the  terrible  scenes  through  which  they  had  just 
passed,  while  a  glance  at  the  long  row  of  mutilated 
bodies  under  the  canvas  on  the  port  side  served  to 
check  any  undue  outburst  of  merriment,  for  a  true  sea- 
man never  forgets  to  respect  a  dead  shipmate.  Once 
in"  a  while  a  sailor  would  approach  the  "dead  row" 
with  an  anxious,  troubled  face,  and,  half  fearfully 
lifting  the  canvas,  peer  at  the  blanched  faces  to  see  if  a 
missing  messmate  was  among  the  dead. 

In  the  midst  of  this  scene  of  leisurely  recovery  from 
the  battle,  the  startling  cry,  "The  ram  is  coming!" 
passed  through,  the  fleet,  and  many  eyes  were  instantly 
turned  in  the  direction  of  Fort  Morgan.  Slowly  creep- 
ing up  the  channel,  with  dense  volumes  of  black  smoke 
rolling  out  of  her  dilapidated  smokestack,  the  Tennes- 
see was  seen  advancing  to  renew  the  contest,  while  the 
parapets  of  Fort  Morgan,  as  well  as  those  of  Fort 
Gaines  and  Fort  Powell,  were  seen  to  be  crowded  with 
Confederate  troops  eager  to  witness  the  finale  of  this 
stupendous  naval  conflict.  When  the  ram  was  iirst 


1864  "FOLLOW  THEM  UP,  JOHNSTON."  441 

seen  to  be  getting  under  way  the  National  officers 
thought  she  might  be  going  out  to  sea  to  destroy  the 
steamers  Genesee,  Pinola,  Penibina,  Sebago,  Tennessee 
and  Bienmlle,  which  in  vain  had  attempted  to  bom- 
bard Fort  Morgan  from  that  direction,  and  Farragut 
said,  "We  must  follow  her  out."  But  a  moment 
later,  when  he  saw  that  the  ram  was  coming  up  the 
bay  to  give  battle,  he  added,  "No,  Buck's  coming 
here.  Get  under  way  at  once  !  We  must  be  ready  for 
him  ! " 

After  running  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Morgan,  as 
described  in  the  last  chapter,  Admiral  Buchanan  spent 
a  half  hour  in  examining  the  damages  of  his  vessel. 
Captain  Johnston  went  outside  the  casemate,  and  after 
making  a  thorough  investigation  reported  that  no  seri- 
ous injury  had  been  sustained.  Some  dents  were  visi- 
ble in  the  iron  plating,  and  part  of  the  smokestack  was 
gone,  but  further  than  this  the  Tennessee  was  not  ma- 
terially hurt.  Learning  this,  Buchanan  said,  "Follow 
them  up,  Johnston ;  we  can't  let  them  off  that  way." 
With  some  difficulty  the  unwieldy  Tennessee  brought 
her  head  round  and  advanced  toward  the  wooden  fleet. 
Buchanan  had  been  worsted  in  the  first  contest,  when 
he  had  the  powerful  support  of  Fort  Morgan's  bat- 
teries, three  gunboats  and  the  torpedoes.  But  now  he 
was  advancing  single-handed  beyond  the  support  of 
the  Confederate  batteries,  without  the  assistance  of  the 
gunboats,  and  with  no  torpedoes  to  depend  upon  to 
sink  the  monitors,  to  give  battle  to  the  whole  fleet. 
He  had  once  seen  the  Merrimac  defeated  by  a  single 
monitor ;  now  he  was  about  to  engage  three  monitors 
and  nearly  a  score  of  heavy  war-ships. 

When  it  was  seen  that  the  ram  was  coming  up  the 
bay  for  the  purpose  of  giving  battle,  the  mess  gear  in 
the  Union  ships  was  hastily  put  aside ;  the  decks  were 
cleared  for  action,  and  the  ships  got  under  way.  The 
anchor  of  the  Hartford  was  weighed  so  hurriedly  that 
it  was  left  hanging  under  the  bow.  The  naval  signal 


442  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1804. 

was  now  given,  "Attack  the  ram,  not  only  with  your 
guns,  but  bows,  at  full  speed  !  "  and  by  the  more  rapid 
system  of  army  signals,  the  LacTcawanna,  the  Monon- 
gahela  and  the  monitors  were  ordered,  "to  run  down 
the  ram ! "  At  this  juncture  Fleet-Surgeon  Palmer 
(who  had  left  his  station  at  Pensacola  for  the  express 
purpose  of  attending  the  injured  in  this  battle),  having 
cared  for  the  wounded  in  the  flagship,  was  shoving 
off  in  the  steam  barge  Loyall  for  the  purpose  of  visiting 
the  wounded  in  the  other  vessels,  when  Farragut  called 
out  to  him,  "Go  to  the  monitors  and  tell  them  to  at- 
tack the  Tennessee  \ "  As  the  National  ironclads  were 
some  distance  apart,  the  execution  of  this  order  in- 
volved much  exposure  ;  but  the  heroic  surgeon  carried 
out  his  instructions  to  the  letter. 

Knowing  that  it  was  useless  to  rely  entirely  on  the 
heavy  guns  of  the  wooden  ships  to  disable  the  Tennes- 
see, Farragut  had  determined  to  try  the  effects  of  ram- 
ming, and  his  orders  were  executed  in  gallant  style. 
Captain  Johnston,  of  the  Tennessee,  says,  "  The  heav- 
ier vessels  seemed  to  contend  with  each  other  for  the 
glory."  Waiting  until  the  Tennessee  was  some  forty 
yards  distant,  Commander  Strong,  about  9.25  A.  M., 
ordered  full  speed  on  the  Monongahela  and  succeeded 
in  striking  the  ram  amidships  on  the  starboard  side, 
the  shock  knocking  down  many  of  the  men  in  both 
ships.  The  collision,  which  would  have  sunk  any  ves- 
sel in  the  National  fleet,  occasioned  no  damage  to  the 
ram  further  than  starting  a  Small  leak,  and  after  the 
surrender  it  was  almost  impossible  to  tell  where  the 
blow  had  been  delivered ;  but  the  iron  prow  of  the 
Monongahela  was  wrenched  off  and  the  butt  ends  of 
the  planks  on  her  bow  were  badly  shattered.  At  the 
time  of  the  collision  the  Tennessee  fired  two  shells, 
which  exploded  in  the  berth  deck  of  the  Monongahela, 
wounding  an  officer  and  two  men.  The  Union  vessel 
then  swung  round  and  delivered  her  starboard  broad- 
side, and  although  fired  at  a  distance  of  about  ten 


1864.  RAMMING  THE  TENNESSEE.  443 

yards,  the  enormous  shot  glanced  harmlessly  off  the 
sloping  sides  of  the  ram. 

Commander  Strong  was  closely  followed  by  the 
Lackawanna,  the  latter,  about  9.30  A.  M.,  striking  the 
Tennessee  a  full  blow  on  the  port  side  at  the  after  end 
of  the  casemate.  The  collision  caused  the  ram  to  heel 
over  heavily,  and  then  to  swing  round,  so  that  the  two 
vessels  lay  side  by  side,  bow  and  stern,  their  port  sides 
scraping  against  each  other.  The  LacJcawanna's  crew 
poured  a  sharp  tire  of  musketry  into  the  ports  of  the 
ram,  and  John  Smith,  captain  of  the  Lack  alcanna's 
forecastle,  threw  a  holystone  through  one  of  the  Ten- 
nessee's ports,  which  struck  a  Confederate  gunner  who 
was  using  abusive  language  against  the  Union  crew. 
A  shell  exploding  in  the  LacTcawanna  started  a  fire  in 
the  shellroom.  George  Taylor,  the  armorer,  although 
wounded,  coolly  walked  into  the  room  filled  with  ex- 
plosives and  extinguished  the  flames  with  his  hands. 
Captain  Marchand  had  shifted  several  of  his  port  guns 
to  the  starboard  side,  in  order  to  bear  on  Fort  Morgan 
when  passing  up  the  channel,  so  that  at  this  moment 
only  one  9- inch  gun  could  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
ram.  But  this  gun  did  more  damage  than  whole  broad- 
sides had  accomplished  before,  for  the  shot  smashed  one 
of  the  ram's  shutters,  and  drove  the  fragments  within 
the  shield.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Lacka- 
wanna's  bow  had  suffered  seriously  from  the  collision, 
it  being  crushed  in  for  a  distance  of  five  feet  below  and 
three  feet  above  the  water  line,  causing  a  considerable 
leakage,  Captain  Marchand  manosuvred  for  another  op- 
portunity to  ram.  These  two  collisions  caused  the  Ten- 
nessee to  leak  at  the  rate  of  about  six  inches  an  hour. 

Admiral  Buchanan  had  determined  to  come  to  close 
quarters  with  the  flagship,  and,  paying  no  more  atten- 
tion to  the  LacTcawanna  than  firing  two  shot  through 
her,  he  headed  directly  for  the  Hartford.  Farragut 
was  equally  anxious  to  get  at  the  ram,  and  at  this 
moment  the  two  flagships  were  headed  for  each  other 


444  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1864. 

at  full  speed.  It  was  impossible  in  that  short  distance 
for  the  Hartford  to  circle  round  so  as  to  ram  the  Ten- 
nessee on  her  side,  and  the  only  safety  for  the  Union 
admiral  was  to  continue  on  his  present  course.  A  bow- 
on  collision  seemed  unavoidable,  and  the  other  ships 
could  do  nothing  but  pour  in  futile  broadsides.  The 
only  hope  for  the  Hartford  was  that  the  iron  beak  of 
the  Tennessee  would  penetrate  so  far  that  she  would 
be  unable  to  back  clear  of  the  wreck,  and  the  two  ships 
would  be  dragged  down  together. 

Seeing  that  a  collision  was  imminent,  Fleet-Captain 
Drayton  hastened  to  the  Hartford's  forecastle,  while 
Farragut  sprang  to  the  port-quarter  rail,  holding  to  the 
mizzen  rigging.  Observing  his  exposed  position,  Flag- 
Lieutenant  Watson  approached  the  admiral,  and,  pass- 
ing a  rope's  end  around  his  body,  secured  him  to  the 
rigging.  For  some  unexplained  reason  the  Tennessee 
avoided  a  head-on  collision  by  slightly  changing  her 
course  just  before  the  vessels  were  in  contact,  so  that 
the  Hartford's  port  bow  scraped  against  the  port  beam 
of  the  ram.  The  vessels  were  now  so  near  that  Farra- 
gut, from  his  position  in  the  mizzen  rigging,  could 
easily  have  stepped  aboard  the  ram  ;  and  the  Hartford's 
anchor,  which  had  been  left  hanging  tinder  her  bow, 
was  caught  between  the  two  vessels  as  they  came  to- 
gether, and  was  bent  out  of  shape.  Several  of  the 
Hartford's  9-inch  guns  were  loaded  with  solid  shot  and 
the  heaviest  charge  of  powder,  and  were  discharged 
at  the  ram,  but  although  the  vessels  were  not  ten  feet 
apart  the  missiles  did  no  perceptible  injury.  The  ram 
attempted  to  return  the  broadside,  and  her  gun-ham- 
mers were  heard  by  the  people  in  the  Hartford  giving 
ominous  clicks,  but  the  powder  failed  to  ignite.  One 
of  the  ram's  guns,  however,  was  fired,  the  shell  from 
which  entered  the  Hartford's  berth  deck,  killed  an 
officer  and  four  men  and  wounded  eight.  This  gun,  the 
last  that  the  Tennessee  fired,  was  so  close  that  the  flash 
scorched  the  Hartfords  side. 


1864. 


THE   FLAGSHIP  IX  COLLISION. 


445 


All  this  time  the  LacTcawanna  had  been  manoeu- 
vring for  another  chance  to  ram,  and,  seizing  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  favorable  opportunity,  Captain  Mar- 
chand  ordered  full  speed.  Unfortunately,  the  Hart- 
ford, after  her  collision  with  the  Tennessee,  had  put 
her  helm  to  starboard  and  was  making  a  circle,  also 


Hartford 


Diagram  showing  the  different  points  at  which  the  Tennessee  iras  rammed 
by  Farragufs  vessels. 

with  a  view  of  butting  the  enemy  again.  At  this  mo- 
ment she  got  in  the  way  of  the  Lackawanna,  the  latter 
striking  the  flagship  just  forward  of  the  mizzenmast 
on  the  starboard  side  near  the  spot  where  Farragut 
stood,  narrowly  missing  him.  The  bow  of  the  LacJca- 
wanna  crushed  in  the  side  of  the  flagship  within  two 


446  ABOVE  THE   MOBILE   FORTS.  1864. 

feet  of  the  water  line,  knocking  two  ports  into  one 
and  upsetting  a  Dahlgren  gun.  For  a  moment  there 
was  some  confusion,  as  it  was  feared  the  ship  was  sink- 
ing, and  orders  were  given  to  lower  the  port  boats.  At 
the  moment  of  the  collision  Farragut  was  standing  on 
the  poop  deck,  and  he  immediately  climbed  over  the 
side  into  the  starboard  mizzen  rigging  to  ascertain  the 
extent  of  the  damage.  The  cry  immediately  rang  out 
above  the  din  of  battle,  "Save  the  admiral !  Save  the 
admiral ! "  but  finding  that  the  Hartford  could  float, 
Farragut  again  appeared  to  the  view  of  his  men,  allayed 
their  fears  for  his  safety,  and  gave  the  order  for  full 
speed  and  ram  again. 

The  Lackawanna  now  resumed  her  efforts  to  secure 
a  position  to  butt  the  Tennessee,  and  a  few  minutes 
later  another  collision  between  the  two  wooden  ves- 
sels seemed  unavoidable.  "And  now,"  wrote  Lieu- 
tenant Kinney,1  "  the  admiral  became  a  trifle  excited. 
He  had  no  idea  of  whipping  the  rebels,  to  be  himself 
sunk  by  friends,  nor  did  he  realize  at  the  moment  that 
the  Hartford  was  as  much  to  blame  as  the  LacJca- 
wanna. Turning  to  the  writer,  he  inquired,  '  Can  you 
say  For  God's  sake  by  signal?'  'Yes,  sir,'  was  the 
reply.  '  Then  say  to  the  Lackawanna,  For  God's  sake, 
get  out  of  our  way  and  anchor ! '  In  my  haste  to  send 
the  message,  I  brought  the  end  of  my  signal  staff  down 
with  considerable  violence  upon  the  head  of  the  ad- 
miral, who  was  standing  nearer  than  I  thought,  caus- 
ing him  to  wince  perceptibly.  It  was  a  hasty  mes- 
sage, for  the  fault  was  equally  divided,  each  ship 
being  too  eager  to  reach  the  enemy,  and  it  turned  out 
all  right,  by  a  fortunate  accident,  that  Captain  Mar- 
chand  never  received  it. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Tennessee  had  been  dealing  with 
wooden  ships,  and  had  it  not  been  for  her  low  speed 
and  defective  guns,  she  would  have  sent  the  fleet  to 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  iv,  p.  897. 


1864.  A  BLOW  FROM  THE  MANHATTAN.  447 

the  bottom  in  a  few  minutes.  But  while  this  desper- 
ate and  unequal  contest  had  been  going  on,  the  three 
monitors  were  approaching  to  take  part  in  the  fight. 
Scarcely  had  the  Monongahela  cleared  the  Tennessee, 
after  ramming,  when  Lieutenant  Wharton,  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, glancing  out  of  the  side  of  one  of  his  gun  ports, 
caught  a  glimpse  of  a  "  hideous-looking  monster  [the 
Manhattan]  creeping  up  on  our  port  side,  whose  slowly 
revolving  turret  revealed  the  cavernous  depths  of  a 
mammoth  gun.  '  Stand  clear  of  the  port  side ! '  I 
shouted.  A  moment  afterward  a  thunderous  report 
shook  us  all,  while  a  blast  of  dense  sulphurous  smoke 
covered  our  portholes,  and  four  hundred  and  forty 
pounds  of  iron,  impelled  by  sixty  pounds  of  powder, 
admitted  daylight  through  our  sides  where,  before  it 
struck  us,  there  had  been  over  two  feet  of  solid  wood 
covered  with  five  inches  of  solid  iron.  This  was  the 
only  15-inch  shot  that  hit  us  fair.  It  did  not  come 
through ;  the  inside  netting  caught  the  splinters,  and 
there  were  no  casualties  from  it." 

The  Chickasaw,  having  received  less  injury  than  the 
other  monitors,  passed  the  Tennessee  on  the  port  side, 
and  after  firing  her  guns  she  ran  under  the  ram's  stern 
and  doggedly  held  that  position  to  the  close  of  the 
fight,  keeping  up  a  terrific  fire  from  her  11 -inch  guns. 
From  that  time  Lieutenant-Commander  Perkins  was 
never  more  than  fifty  yards  from  his  antagonist,  and 
frequently  the  vessels  were  in  actual  contact.  He 
planted  fifty-two  11-inch  solid  shot  on  the  Tennessee's 
casemate,  most  of  them  on  the  after  end,  where  the 
greatest  injury  was  done  and  many  plates  were  started. 
That  night,  when  the  Metacomet  was  taking  the  Na- 
tional and  Confederate  wounded  to  Pensacola,  the  pilot 
of  the  Tennessee  asked  Lieutenant-Commander  Jouett, 
"Who  commanded  the  monitor  that  got  under  our 
stern  ?  Damn  him,  he  stuck  to  us  like  a  leech  ! " 

The  Winnebago  and  the  Manhattan  also  were 
pounding  away  at  the  ram  whenever  their  partially 


448  ABOVE  THE   MOBILE   FORTS.  1864. 

disabled  batteries  bore.  The  Manhattan  was  able  to 
fire  only  six  shot  at  the  Tennessee,  one  of  which,  how- 
ever, pierced  the  mailing  on  the  port  side  of  the  ram 
and  shattered  the  oak  and  pine  backing,  though  the 
shot  itself  did  not  penetrate. 

About  this  time  the  position  of  the  men  within  the 
casemate  of  the  Tennessee  began  to  be  alarming. 
Early  in  the  action  the  pilot  had  been  wounded  by 
having  the  trapdoor  on  the  top  of  the  pilot  house 
knocked  down  upon  his  head  by  a  shot  that  struck 
it  on  the  edge  while  it  was  thrown  back  to  admit  of 
his  seeing  more  clearly  the  position  of  the  vessels.  Up 
to  this  stage  of  the  action  the  massive  walls  of  the  case- 
mate had  afforded  ample  protection  to  the  men,  and 
they  peered  out  of  their  portholes  and  saw  their  mis- 
siles crash  through  the  wooden  ships  with  deadly  effect, 
while  they  were  safe  from  the  heaviest  shot.  But  the 
persistent  hammering  of  the  National  ships  began  to 
change  the  situation.  Within  a  few  feet  of  one  of  the 
after  gun  ports  nine  11-inch  solid  shot  crashed  against 
the  casemate,  and  the  carriage  of  one  of  the  guns  had 
been  disabled  and  nearly  all  the  iron  plates  on  the  after 
side  of  the  casemate  had  been  started.  Three  of  the 
port  shutters  were  jammed  so  that  the  guns  could  not 
be  used  for  the  remainder  of  ttie  action.  The  atmos- 
phere within  the  casemate,  which  early  in  the  fight  had 
been  over  100°,  had  risen  to  120°.  The  shock  of  the 
rammings  the  Tennessee  had  received  broke  off  the 
smokestack  under  the  casemate,  and  the  coal  smoke 
began  to  pour  into  the  gunroom  and  stifle  the  gunners, 
which,  added  to  the  smoke  from  exploding  powder, 
made  their  position  almost  intolerable,  and  for  relief 
many  of  the  men  stripped  to  the  waist.  "Frequently 
during  the  contest  we  were  surrounded  by  the  enemy, 
and  all  our  guns  were  in  action  almost  at  the  same  mo- 
ment." '  A  well-directed  shot  from  the  Chickasaw 

1  Official  report  of  Admiral  Buchanan. 


1864.  SURRENDER  OF  THE  TENNESSEE.  449 

jammed  the  Tennessee's  stern- port  shutter  so  that  the 
gun  could  not  be  run  in  or  out,  and  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore the  rudder  chains,  which  were  exposed  on  the  deck 
of  the  Tennessee,  were  shot  away.  Relieving-tackles 
for  steering  the  ship  were  adjusted,  but  these  also,  in 
a  short  time,  were  carried  away. 

Seeing  that  the  battle  was  against  him  and  that  there 
was  no  hope  of  contending  successfully  against  the  fleet, 
Buchanan  now  ordered  Johnston  to  steer  for  Fort  Mor- 
gan, with  a  view  of  seeking  the  shelter  of  its  guns. 
Buchanan  at  this  time  was  directing  a  gun,  when  a 
shot  from  the  ChicJcasaw  jammed  the  shutter  so  that  it 
could  not  be  moved.  He  sent  to  the  engine-room  for  a 
machinist  to  push  out  the  pin  of  the  shutter,  hoping 
that  it  would  fall  away,  thus  leaving  the  port  open ; 
and  while  the  machinist  was  endeavoring  to  do  this  a 
heavy  shot  struck  the  edge  of  the  port  cover  outside 
where  the  man  was  working.  The  concussion  muti- 
lated the  man  in  a  horrible  manner,  scattering  the  frag- 
ments of  his  body  all  over  the  deck,  which  afterward 
were  shoveled  into  a  bucket  and  thrown  overboard. 
The  same  shot  mortally  wounded  one  of  the  gun  crew, 
and  drove  the  washers  and  nuts  across  the  deck  with 
such  force  as  to  break  Buchanan's  leg  below  the  knee. 
He  was  carried  to  the  surgeon's  table  below,  and  while 
his  wound  was  being  dressed  he  sent  for  Johnston  (who 
after  the  accident  to  the  pilot  had  been  directing  the 
movements  of  the  ram  from  the  pilot-house),  and  said : 
"Well,  Johnston,  they've  got  me.  You'll  have  to  look 
out  for  her  now." 

When  the  command  of  the  Tennessee  devolved  upon 
Captain  Johnston  her  condition  was  indeed  desperate. 
The  forward  and  after  port  covers  were  jammed  so  that 
the  guns  were  useless.  The  steam,  owing  to  the  wreck 
of  the  smokestack,  was  going  down.  Shot  were  rain- 
ing on  the  after  part  of  the  casemate  so  that  it  must 
soon  have  fallen  in  and  exposed  the  men  to  the  dread- 
ful effect  of  shells  exploding  in  their  confined  space. 
74 


450  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1864. 

For  some  time  the  Tennessee  was  heading  aimlessly 
about  the  bay,  with  the  monitors  and  the  wooden  ships 
relentlessly  pursuing  her  and  keeping  up  a  terrific  fire 
and  seeking  opportunities  to  ram.  Captain  Johnston 
now  made  a  personal  examination  of  the  broken  wheel 
chains,  and  found  it  was  impossible  to  repair  them 
without  sending  a  man  outside  the  casemate,  which 
was  constantly  swept  by  a  storm  of  iron,  and  finally 
the  tiller  was  unshipped  from  the  rudder  head. 

After  enduring  this  fearful  battering  twenty  min- 
utes without  being  able  to  fire  a  gun  or  to  direct  the 
movements  of  his  vessel,  Captain  Johnston  went  below 
to  consult  with  Admiral  Buchanan,  who  said,  "Well, 
Johnston,  if  you  can  not  do  them  any  further  injury  you 
had  better  surrender."  Johnston  then  returned  to  the 
pilot-house  to  see  if  he  could  get  another  shot,  and 
finding  that  this  was  impossible,  he  went  on  top  of  the 
casemate  and  took  down  the  flag,  which  had  been  at- 
tached to  a  gun  scraper  and  thrust  through  the  grating. 
The  National  vessels  did  not  immediately  understand 
that  a  surrender  had  been  made,  and  continued  their 
fire.  Captain  Johnston  then  wrent  on  the  casemate,  and 
at  10  A.  M.  exhibited  a  white  flag,  when  the  firing 
ceased. 

But  at  this  moment  the  Ossipee  had  seized  a  favor- 
able opportunity  for  ramming,  and  was  coming  down 
on  the  Tennessee  at  right  angles  under  a  full  head  of 
steam,  on  the  starboard  side.  Commander  Le  Roy,  of 
the  Ossipee,  in  passing  the  Winnebago,  exchanged  a 
pleasant  greeting  with  Commander  Stevens,  who  was 
still  outside  his  turrets.  Observing  a  man  on  the  Ten- 
nessee's casemate  waving  a  white  flag,  and  recognizing 
him  as  Captain  Johnston,  Commander  Le  Roy  put  his 
helm  over  and  reversed  his  engines,  but  was  too  late  to 
avoid  a  collision.  As  the  vessels  came  into  contact, 
the  Union  officer  came  out  on  his  forecastle  deck  and 
called  out:  "This  is  the  United  States  steamer  Ossi- 
pee. Hello,  Johnston !  how  are  you  ?  I'll  send  a  boat 


1864.  LOSSES  AND   INJURIES.  451 

alongside  for  you.  Le  Roy,  don't  you  know  me  ? " 
These  two  officers  had  been  warm  friends  in  the  navy 
before  the  war.  A  moment  later  a  boat  put  out  from 
the  Ossipee  and  Johnston  was  cordially  received  by 
Le  Roy.  An  officer  now  hoisted  the  National  colors 
over  the  battered  casemate  of  the  ram,  on  seeing  which 
cheers  upon  cheers  burst  from  the  victorious  crews. 
The  ChicJcasaw  then  took  the  Tennessee  in  tow  and 
anchored  her  near  the  Hartford. 

In  this  desperate  battle  the  Hartford  was  struck 
twenty  times,  the  Brooklyn  thirty,  the  Octorara  seven- 
teen, the  Metacomet  eleven,  the  LacJcawanna  five,  the 
Ossipee  four,  the  Monongahela  five,  the  Kennebec  two, 
and  the  Galena  seven  times.  Of  the  monitors,  the 
Manhattan  was  struck  nine  times,  the  Winnebago 
nineteen  times  and  the  CMcJcasaw  three  times.  Near- 
ly all  the  plating  of  the  Tennessee  on  the  after  end  of 
the  casemate  was  started,  one  bolt  had  been  driven  in, 
several  nuts  and  washers  had  been  knocked  off,  the 
steering-rods  had  been  cut  off  near  the  after  pivot  gun 
and  the  carriage  of  that  gun  was  damaged  ;  but  there 
was  no  visible  injury  from  the  ramming  by  the  Hart- 
ford, the  Monongahela  and  the  LacTcawanna.  "  Fif- 
ty-three shot-marks  in  all  were  counted  on  the  Tennes- 
see's shield,  three  of  which  had  penetrated  so  far  as 
to  cause  splinters  to  fly  on  board,  and  the  washers  from 
the  ends  of  the  bolts  wounded  several  men." l 

The  loss  in  the  National  fleet  was  :  Hartford,  twen- 
ty-five killed  and  twenty-eight  wounded  ;  Brooklyn, 
eleven  killed  and  forty- three  wounded  ;  LacJcawanna, 
four  killed  and  thirty-five  wounded  ;  Oneida,  eight 
killed  and  thirty  wounded  ;  Monongahela,  six  wound- 
ed ;  Metacomet,  one  killed  and  two  wounded  ;  Ossipee, 
one  killed  and  seven  wounded ;  Richmond,  two  wound- 
ed ;  Galena,  one  wounded  ;  Octorara,  one  killed  and 
ten  wounded  ;  Kennebec,  one  killed  and  six  wounded  ; 

1  Official  report  of  Captain  Johnston. 


452  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1864. 

total,  fifty-two  killed  and  one  hundred  and  seventy 
wounded.  The  Tennessee  had  two  killed  and  nine 
wounded  ;  the  Gaines,  two  killed  and  three  wounded  ; 
the  Selma,  eight  killed  and  seven  wounded  ;  the  Mor- 
gan, one  wounded ;  total  Confederate  loss,  twelve 
killed  and  twenty  wounded.  Two  hundred  and  eighty 
prisoners  were  taken.  Ninety-three  men  were  drowned 
in  the  TecumseTi,  and  four  were  captured. 

That  night  the  Metacomet  carried  all  the  wounded 
to  Pensacola,  being  piloted  through  the  torpedoes  by 
the  Tennessee's  pilot.  Rear-Admiral  Jouett  writes : 
"I  was  detailed  by  Admiral  Farragut  to  take  the 
wounded  of  both  sides  to  Pensacola.  The  awnings  and 
side  curtains  were  all  spread,  and  the  Metacomet  be- 
came a  hospital  ship.  Admiral  Buchanan  was  wound- 
ed in  the  knee,  as  he  had  been  in  the  fight  between  the 
Merrimac  and  the  Monitor.  Captain  Mullany,  of  the 
Oneida,  lost  an  arm,  and  there  were  many  others 
wounded.  They  lay  in  cots  on  the  quarter-deck,  sling- 
ing side  by  side,  chatting  familiarly,  taking  medicine, 
tea,  coffee  or  wine,  as  the  doctor  thought  best.  'Twas 
amusing  to  hear  those  poor  fellows,  who  but  an  hour 
ago  were  trying  to  kill  each  other,  now  spinning  yarns 
of  olden  times."  Among  the  Union  wounded  were 
Lieutenant  Adams  and  Mr.  Heginbotham,  the  latter 
being  hurt  mortally.  Another  one  of  the  wounded  was 
an  Irish  lad  who  had  been  stationed  at  a  shell  whip 
during  the  action,  hoisting  ammunition  to  the  deck. 
While  he  had  his  hands  above  his  head,  in  the  act  of 
hoisting,  a  shell  cut  off  both  his  arms  at  the  elbows. 
Another  man  had  lost  both  his  legs  in  the  Hartford, 
and  after  the  war  the  two  men  entered  into  a  peculiar 
partnership,  putting  what  was  left  of  their  bodies 
together  as  capital  (one  man  supplying  the  legs  and  the 
other  the  arms)  and  selling  pictures  of  Admiral  Farra- 
gut in  the  streets  of  New  York.  As  the  Metacomet 
was  swinging  from  the  wharf  at  Pensacola  on  her  re- 
turn trip  to  Mobile,  Midshipman  Carter,  of  the  Ten- 


1864.  GALLANT  OFFICERS.  453 

nessee,  called  out  to  Jouett,  "Don't  attempt  to  fire 
No.  2  starboard  gun,  as  there  is  a  shell  jammed  in  the 
bore,  and  the  gun  will  burst  and  kill  some  one." 

Hearing  from  Dr.  Conrad  of  the  condition  of  Ad- 
miral Buchanan,  Farragut  ordered  his  fleet  surgeon  to 
go  aboard  the  Tennessee  and  personally  attend  him. 
Surgeon  Palmer  ran  alongside  the  battered  ram  in  the 
steam  barge  Loyall,  but  such  was  the  slope  of  the  Ten- 
nessee^ s  sides  that  the  boat  could  not  get  near  enough 
for  him  to  step  aboard,  and  it  required  a  long  jump. 
Gaining  the  Tennessee's  deck,  Palmer  climbed  through 
one  of  the  gun  ports,  and,  picking  his  path  across  the 
piles  of  wreckage  that  encumbered  the  deck,  he  found 
his  way  to  the  Confederate  admiral.  Preparations  had 
been  made  to  amputate  his  leg,  but  on  Dr.  Palmer's 
advice  the  operation  was  postponed  and  the  limb  was 
saved.  In  his  official  report  Buchanan  said,  "We 
have  received  all  the  attention  and  consideration  we 
could  desire  or  accept  from  Fleet- Surgeon  Palmer." 
Lieutenant  Giraud,  of  the  Ossipee,  attended  by  Captain 
Heywood,  of  the  marines,  and  a  guard,  was  sent  to  re- 
ceive Buchanan's  sword ;  and  when  Captain  Heywood 
met  Buchanan  he  could  not  refrain  from  reminding  the 
Confederate  admiral  that  they  had  met  before  when  the 
Cumberland  was  sunk  by  the  Merrimac. 

Farragut  spoke  of  all  his  officers  "as  deserving 
my  warmest  commendation,  not  only  for  the  untiring 
zeal  with  which  they  prepared  their  ships  for  the  con- 
test, but  for  their  skill  and  daring  in  carrying  out  my 
orders  during  the  engagement."  He  particularly  com- 
mended the  gallantry  of  Captains  Percival  Drayton  and 
Thornton  A.  Jenkins  ;  Commanders  Mullany,  Nichol- 
son, and  Stevens;  Lieutenant-Commanders  Jouett  and 
Perkins ;  Lieutenants  Watson  and  Yates  ;  Acting-En- 
signs Henry  C.  Nields,  Bogart  and  Heginbotham  ;  En- 
sign Henry  Howard  Brownell,  Secretary  McKinley,  the 
pilot  Martin  Freeman,  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenants 
William  Hamilton  and  P.  Giraud.  Of  his  crew  he 


454:  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1864. 

said:  "I  have  never  seen  a  crew  come  up  like  ours. 
They  are  ahead  of  the  old  set  in  small  arms,  and  fully 
equal  to  them  at  the  great  guns.  They  arrived  here  a 
mere  lot  of  boys  and  young  men,  and  have  now  fattened 
up  and  knocked  the  9-inch  guns  about  like  24-pounders, 
to  the  astonishment  of  everybody.  There  was  but  one 
man  who  showed  fear,  and  he  was  allowed  to  resign. 
This  was  the  most  desperate  battle  I  ever  fought  since 
the  days  of  the  old  Essex" l 

At  half  past  two  that  afternoon  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Perkins  got  under  way  in  the  Chickasaw  and 
for  an  hour  bombarded  Fort  Powell,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing night  the  fort  was  abandoned  by  the  Confederates 
and  blown  up.  The  next  day  Acting-Volunteer- Lieu- 
tenant Pomeroy,  of  the  Estrella,  hoisted  the  National 
ensign  over  the  fort.  On  the  6th  of  August  the  Chicka- 

1  Aside  from  the  officers,  the  men  who  won  especial  distinction  in  this 
great  battle  were :  Wilson  Brown,*  Thomas  Fitzpatrick,*  Martin  Freeman, 
James  R.  Garrison,*  John  Lawson,*  John  McFarland,  Charles  Melville,* 
Thomas  O'Connell,*  William  Pelham,  William  A.  Stanley,*  all  in  the 
Hartford.  John  Brown,  William  Blageen,  William  H.  Brown,*  John 
Cooper,  J.  Henry  Denig,  Richard  Dennis,  Samuel  W.  Davis,  Michael  Hud- 
son, William  Halstead.  Joseph  Irlam,  Nicholas  Irwin,  John  Irving,  Burnett 
Kenna,  Alexander  Mack,*  William  Madden,  James  Machon,  James  Mifflin, 
William  Nichols,  Miles  M.Oviatt,  Edward  Price,  William  M.  Smith,  James 
E.  Sterling,*  Samuel  Todd,  all  in  the  Brooklyn.  Thomas  Atkinson,  Robert 
Brown,  Cornelius  Cronin,  Thomas  Cripps,  James  B.  Chandler,*  William 
W.  Call,  William  Densmore,  Adam  Duncan,  Charles  Deakin,*  William 
Doolin,*  Thomas  Hayes,  Hugh  Hamilton,  James  Mclntosh,  John  H. 
James,*  William  Jones,  James  H.  Morgan,  Andrew  Miller,  James  Martin, 
George  Parks,  Hendrick  Sharp,  Walter  B.  Smith,  Lebbeus  Simpkins, 
Oloff  Smith,  John  Smith,  James  Smith,  David  Sprowle,  Alexander  H. 
Truett,  all  of  the  Richmond.  John  M.  Burns,*  Michael  Cassidy,  Louis  G. 
Chaput,*  Adam  McCullock,*  Patrick  Dougherty,  John  Edwards,*  Samuel 
W.  Kinnaird,  William  Phinney,  John  Smith,  George  Taylor,*  James 
Ward,*  Daniel  Whitfield,  all  of  the  Lackawanna.  William  Gardner, 
John  E.  Jones,*  Thomas  Kendrick,  William  Newland,  David  Naylor,  John 
Preston.*  James  S.  Roantree,  James  Sheridan,*  Charles  B.  Woram,  all  of 
the  Oneida.  Andrew  Jones  of  the  Chickasaw.  Those  marked  with  an 
asterisk  either  left  the  sick-bay  to  take  part  in  the  battle,  or  continued  to 
fight  after  being  wounded,  many  of  them  leaving  the  surgeon's  table  to 
return  to  the  deck. 


1865.  CAPTURE  OF  THE  PORTS.  455 

saw  opened  fire  on  Fort  Gaines,  which  surrendered  on 
the  following  morning.  This  left  only  Fort  Morgan  in 
the  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  on  the  22d  of  August 
the  fleet,  assisted  by  land  forces  under  General  Granger 
and  a  siege  train  that  had  been  sent  from  New  Orleans, 
opened  fire  upon  it,  and  in  twelve  hours  threw  three 
thousand  missiles  into  and  around  the  works.  The 
next  day  it  surrendered,  and  this  effectually  closed 
Mobile  as  a  port  for  blockade-runners.  Soon  after  this 
brilliant  victory  Admiral  Farragut  went  North,  and 
Captain  James  S.  Palmer  assumed  command  of  the 
fleet.  In  February,  1865,  he  was  relieved  by  Acting- 
Rear-Admiral  Henry  K.  Thatcher,  although  Palmer 
still  remained  in  the  fleet. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  the  naval  force  in  Mobile  Bay 
materially  assisted  the  National  troops  under  General 
Canby  in  reducing  the  city  of  Mobile.  The  vessels 
taking  part  in  this  affair  were  the  Octorara,  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander W.  W.  Low ;  the  monitors  KicJcapoo, 
Lieu  tenant- Commander  M.  P.  Jones ;  Osage,  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander William  W.  Gamble ;  Milwaukee, 
Lieutenant-Commander  James  H.  Gillis  ;  Winnebago, 
Lieutenant-Commander  W.  A.  Kirkland  ;  and  CMcka- 
saw,  Lieutenant-Commander  G.  H.  Perkins.  On  the 
27th  of  March  these  vessels  moved  up  Dog  River  and 
opened  fire  on  the  Confederate  batteries.  While  the 
Winnebago  and  the  Milwaukee  were  returning  from 
Spanish  Fort,  on  the  28th  of  March,  after  shelling  a 
transport  two  miles  up  the  river,  the  Milwaukee,  when 
some  two  hundred  yards  from  the  Union  fleet,  struck 
a  torpedo  about  forty  feet  from  her  stern  on  the  port 
side,  and  although  her  bow  remained  above  water 
nearly  an  hour  afterward,  her  stern  sank  in  three  min- 
utes. All  her  people  fortunately  escaped.  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Gillis  afterward  commanded  a  naval  bat- 
tery, and  rendered  conspicuous  service.  It  was  known " 
that  many  torpedoes  had  been  planted  in  these  waters, 
but  it  was  thought  that  the  drag-nets  had  removed 


456  ABOVE  THE  MOBILE  FORTS.  1865. 

them.  On  the  29th  of  March  the  Winnebago  dragged 
her  anchor  in  the  fresh  breeze,  and  in  order  to  avoid  a 
collision  the  Osage  tripped  anchor  and  moved  ahead, 
but  just  as  she  was  anchoring  again  she  struck  a  tor- 
pedo and  sank  almost  immediately.  None  of  her  men 
were  drowned,  but  five  of  them  were  killed  and  eleven 
wounded  by  the  force  of  the  explosion.  A  few  days 
after  this — April  1st — the  steamer  RodolpTi,  having  on 
board  a  machine  for  raising  the  Milwaukee,  was  also 
struck  by  a  torpedo  thirty  feet  aft  from  her  bow,  which 
caused  her  to  sink  in  a  few  minutes.  The  explosion 
killed  four  men  and  wounded  eleven. 

On  the  8th  of  April  Spanish  Fort  surrendered. 
Commander  Pierce  Crosby  was  ordered  to  proceed  in 
the  Metacomet  and  clear  the  river  of  torpedoes  (which 
the  enemy  still  continued  to  send  down),  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  lifting  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  them.  On 
the  10th  the  ironclads  and  the  Octorara  moved  up  the 
river  and  shelled  the  earthworks  named  Huger  and 
Tracy,  which  were  abandoned  on  the  following  evening. 
On  the  12th,  Commander  Palmer,  in  the  Octorara,  ac- 
companied by  the  ironclads,  moved  up  the  river  within 
easy  shelling  distance  of  Mobile,  while  Admiral  Thatch- 
er, conveying  eight  thousand  troops  under  General 
Granger,  crossed  the  bay  in  the  gunboats ;  but  the  city, 
having  been  evacuated  by  the  Confederate  troops,  sur- 
rendered without  further  resistance. 

While  engaged  in  the  work  of  clearing  these  waters 
of  torpedoes,  the  tugboats  Ida,  AUTiea  and  one  of  the 
Cincinnati's  launches  were  blown  up,  eight  men  being 
killed  and  five  wounded  ;  and  on  the  14th  of  April  the 
gunboat  Scioto  had  six  men  killed  and  five  wounded 
by  a  torpedo. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON. 

FROM  the  time  Sumter  was  fired  on  a  sentimental 
interest  centered  around  Charleston,  both  among  the 
Nationalists  and  the  Southerners,  and  it  became  the 
scene  of  one  of  the  most  obstinate  sieges  in  history. 
In  December,  1861,  and  January,.  1862,  a  number  of 
old  whalers  filled  with  stones  were  sunk  in  the  main 
ship  channel  of  Charleston  and  in  Sullivan  Island  chan- 
nel, with  a  view  of  closing  the  port  to  blockade-run- 
ners This  aroused  a  storm  of  opposition  in  Europe,  as 
it  was  feared  that  it  would  destroy  the  harbor ;  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  obstructions  proved  to  be  of  the  most 
temporary  character.  Many  of  the  blockade-runners 
had  been  built  in  England  with  a  view  of  entering  the 
shallow  harbors  and  rivers  on  the  Southern  coast,  so 
that  few  of  them  found  it  necessary  to  take  the  chan- 
nels in  Charleston  harbor.  Furthermore,  this  "stone 
fleet "  caused  better  and  deeper  channels  to  be  formed. 

A  blockading  force  was  maintained  off  Charleston 
early  in  the  war,  under  the  command  of  Rear-Admiral 
Samuel  Francis  Dupont,  but  it  was  not  until  1863  that 
any  important  naval  actions  took  place  off  that  port. 
Early  on  the  morning  of  January  31st  of  this  year  two 
ironclad  rams,  built  somewhat  in  the  style  of  the  Merri- 
mac,  came  out  and  gave  battle  to  the  blockading  squad- 
ron. These  vessels — the  Palmetto  State,  Commodore 
Duncan  Nathaniel  Ingraham,  and  the  CTiicora,  Captain 
John  Randolph  Tucker — had  been  built  by  James  M. 
Eason,  after  plans  submitted  by  John  L.  Porter,  who 
was  identified  with  the  construction  of  the  Merrimac. 

457 


458  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1863. 

They  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  over  all,  had 
thirty-five  feet  beam  and  drew  twelve  feet  of  water. 
Both  vessels  were  covered  with  two  layers  of  2-inch 
iron,  which  were  laid  on  twenty-two  inches  of  pine  and 
oak  backing.  The  iron  plating  was  continued  five  feet 
below  the  water  line,  and  also  covered  the  ram,  which 
was  a  formidable  elongation  of  the  bow.  Under  favor- 
able conditions  they  could  steam  seven  knots.  The 
Confederates  also  were  building  the  ironclads  Charles- 
ton and  Columbia,  which  were  plated  with  six  inches 
of  iron,  the  ladies  of  Charleston  contributing  the  money 
for  the  former.  The  Palmetto  State  was  armed  with 
one  80-pounder  and  one  60-pounder  rifled  gun  and 
two  8-inch  shell  guns,  while  the  Chicora  carried  two 
9-inch  guns  and  four  32-pounders,  which  had  been 
hooped  and  rifled  to  fire  a  60-pound  projectile. 

At  the  time  the  Palmetto  State  and  the  Chicora 
came  out  of  Charleston  harbor,  two  of  the  most  power- 
ful vessels  of  the  Union  squadron,  the  Powhatan  and 
the  Canandaigua,  were  coaling  at  Port  Royal,  so  that 
only  the  following  gunboats  were  off  the  port :  Housa- 
tonic,  Ottawa,  Unadilla,  Mercedita,  Keystone  State, 
Quaker  City,  Memphis,  Augusta,  Stettin  and  Flag. 
Of  these  vessels,  only  the  Housatonic,  the  Ottawa  and 
the  Unadilla  were  built  for  war  purposes. 

The  sea  was  enveloped  in  a  dense  fog,  so  that  the 
first  intimation  the  Nationalists  had  of  the  attack 
was  about  4.30  A.  M.,  when  the  Mercedita,  Captain 
Henry  S.  Stellwagen,  discovered  a  strange  craft  loom- 
ing out  of  the  mist  off  to  the  starboard,  making  di- 
rectly .toward  her.  The  people  in  the  Union  steamer 
called  out :  ' '  What  steamer  is  that  ?  Drop  your  anchor 
or  you  will  be  into  us  !  "  Commodore  Ingraham  replied, 
"The  Confederate  States'  steamer  Palmetto  /State,  "and 
almost  at  the  same  instant  he  fired  a  7- inch  shell  into 
the  Mercedita,  which  killed  a  gunner,  and,  piercing  the 
condenser  and  steam  drum  of  her  port  boiler,  exploded, 
blowing  a  hole  four  feet  square  in  the  opposite  side  near 


Map  of  Charleston  Harbor  and  vicinity. 


1863.   RAID  OF  THE  PALMETTO  STATE  AXD  CHICORA.    459 

the  water  line.  The  escaping  steam  killed  several  men 
and  scalded  three  others.  The  Confederates  then  called 
on  the  disabled  steamer  to  surrender  and  send  a  boat 
aboard.  Lieutenant  Abbott  accordingly  went  aboard 
and  gave  a  parole  for  all  the  officers  and  men  in  the 
Union  vessel.  Not  stopping  to  secure  her  prize,  the 
Palmetto  State  joined  the  Cliicora  in  an  attack  upon 
the  Keystone  State,  Commander  William  Edgar  Le 
Roy,  whose  people  had  been  aroused  by  the  report  of 
the  gun,  and  soon  discovered  above  the  fog  the  smoke 
of  a  tugboat— as  they  supposed — approaching  from  the 
direction  of  the  Mercedita. 

Meantime,  lights  in  a  dark  object  moving  a  little 
ahead  of  the  Mercedita  were  discovered,  and  Com- 
mander Le  Roy  ordered  his  cables  to  be  slipped,  steam 
got  up,  and  the  forward  rifled  gun  to  be  trained  on  the 
vessel  approaching  from  the  Mercedita.  Hailing  the 
stranger  and  getting  an  unsatisfactory  answer,  the  Key- 
stone State  fired  her  forward  gun,  and  about  the  same 
instant  the  Confederate  steamer  sent  a  shell  into  the 
forward  hold  of  the  Union  vessel,  setting  her  on  fire. 
Directing  his  men  to  fire  as  the  guns  bore,  Le  Roy  put 
his  helm  aport  and  held  a  northeasterly  course  until 
he  found  the  water  shoaling,  when  he  headed  his  vessel 
southeast.  After  ten  minutes  in  this  direction  the 
flames  in  the  hold  had  been  extinguished,  and  the 
Keystone  State  made  for  a  black  smoke  with  the  inten- 
tion of  ramming.  The  two  vessels  exchanged  shot  at 
about  6.17  A.  M.,  when  a  shell  entered  the  port  side  of 
the  Keystone  State,  destroyed  the  steam-pipes,  emptied 
the  port  boiler  and  filled  the  vessel  with  steam,  while 
two  shot  pierced  the  hull  under  the  water  line.  As  the 
ship  heeled  heavily  to  starboard  and  eighteen  inches 
of  water  were  reported  in  the  well,  it  was  thought  that 
she  was  sinking  and  preparations  were  made  for  aban- 
doning her.  All  this  time  the  stranger  was  firing  into 
the  Keystone  State,  killing  or  wounding  men  at  each 
shot.  Seeing  the  hopelessness  of  the  struggle,  Le  Roy 


460  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1863. 

hauled  down  his  colors,  but  as  the  enemy  continued 
to  fire  he  rehoisted  the  flag  and  renewed  the  action 
from  his  stern  guns.  After  exchanging  a  few  shot  with 
several  other  Union  vessels  the  Confederate  vessels  re- 
turned to  Charleston. 

The  fog  hung  over  the  sea  all  that  morning,  and  it 
was  not  until  late  in  the  afternoon  that  the  ironclads 
could  be  seen  at  anchor  near  Fort  Moultrie.  Com- 
mander Le  Roy  ran  in  his  port  guns,  so  as  to  heel  the 
ship  over,  thus  raising  the  two  shot-holes  above  the 
water  line,  and  in  this  condition  was  towed  to  Port 
Royal,  where  the  Mercedita  also  arrived.  The  Key- 
stone State  had  twenty  killed  and  twenty  wounded, 
Assistant-Surgeon  J.  H.  Gotwold  being  among  the 
former.  Most  of  the  injuries  were  caused  by  steam. 
The  Confederates  reported  that  the  rams  were  unin- 
jured, but  they  did  not  again  attempt  to  come  out  of 
the  harbor.  The  partial  success  of  this  dashing  affair 
so  elated  the  Confederates  that  they  declared  the 
blockade  raised,  and  that  the  National  vessels  had 
been  driven  out  of  sight.  The  dense  fog  hanging  over 
the  coast  might,  in  truth,  have  rendered  the  blockading 
squadron  invisible  to  those  on  shore,  as  the  proclama- 
tion of  General  Beauregard  and  Commodore  Ingraham 
declared,  but  when  the  fog  rose  late  in  the  afternoon 
a  strong  blockading  force  was  seen  to  be  on  hand. 

On  the  evening  before  this  attack  the  gunboat  Isaac 
Smith,  Acting-Lieutenant  F.  S.  Conover,  while  making 
a  reconnoissance  up  the  Stono  River  in  company  with 
the  McDonough,  Lieutenant-Commander  George  Ba- 
con, was  fired  upon  by  a  masked  battery  on  James 
Island,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  two  other  bat- 
teries opened  on  her.  Conover  attempted  to  retreat, 
but  a  shot  disabled  his  vessel's  machinery,  so  that  he 
was  compelled  to  surrender,  having  eight  men  killed 
and  seventeen  wounded.  The  Isaac  Smith  was  taken 
into  the  Confederate  service  under  the  name  Stono. 
In  May,  1862,  the  gunboats  Unadilla,  Pembina  and 


1863.  FIRST  ATTACK  ON  FORT  McALLISTER.  461 

Ottawa,  under  the  orders  of  Commander  Marchand, 
went  up  the  Stono  as  far  as  Legareville  and  captured  a 
picket  guard. 

Anxious  to  test  the  monitors  that  were  detailed  for 
the  Atlantic  blockade,  Rear- Admiral  Dupont,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1863,  ordered  the  MontauTc,  Commander  John 
Lorimer  Worden,  mounting  one  15-inch  and  one  11- 
inch  gun,  one  of  the  first  to  arrive,  to  Ossabaw  Sound 
to  attack  Fort  McAllister.  This  fortification  mounted 
nine  guns  and  was  commanded  by  Captain  George  W. 
Anderson,  Jr.  Another  object  Dupont  had  in  view 
was  the  destruction  of  the  blockade-runner  Nashville, 
which  had  been  fitted  as  a  cruiser  and  was  in  the  Great 
Ogeechee  River,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  get  to 
sea.  This  vessel,  owing  to  the  extreme  vigilance  of 
Lieutenant-Commander  John  Lee  Davis,  of  the  Wissa- 
TiicJcon,  and  Lieutenant  John  S.  Barnes,  of  the  Dawn 
(afterward  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Commander  Gib- 
son), had  been  kept  in  port  eight  months.  To  render 
her  position  more  secure,  Fort  McAllister  had  been 
strengthened,  and  a  diagonal  line  of  piles  was  driven 
across  the  channel  and  a  line  of  torpedoes  planted. 

At  7  A.  M.,  January  27th,  the  Montauk,  handsomely 
supported  by  the  gunboats  Seneca,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander William  Gibson,  Wissahickon,  Dawn  and 
Williams,  opened  fire  on  the  fort,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Davis  having  reconnoitered  the  waters  the 
night  before  in  boats  and  destroyed  the  enemy's  range 
marks.  Having  expended  his  shells,  Commander  Wor- 
den about  noon  retired  and  signaled  the  gunboats  to 
follow.  In  this  affair  the  ironclad  was  struck  thirteen 
times,  but  none  of  the  Nationalists  were  injured. 
These  vessels  renewed  the  attack  on  February  1st,  but 
although  Captain  Anderson  reported  that  "at  times 
the  fire  was  terrible,"  and  that  the  "  mortar  firing  was 
unusually  fine,  a  large  number  of  shells  bursting  over 
the  battery,"  yet  no  damage  was  done  which  could 
not  be  repaired  at  night.  The  Confederate  loss  was 


462  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1863. 

one  officer  killed,  seven  men  wounded  and  one  gun  dis- 
abled. Although  struck  forty-six  times  in  this  second 
attack,  the  MontauTc  escaped  without  serious  injury. 

Discovering  that  Captain  Baker,  commander  of  the 
NasJimlle,  on  the  evening  of  February  27th  had  run 
his  ship  aground,  Commander  Worden,  early  on  the 
morning  of  February  28th,  moved  close  up  to  the  line 
of  piles,  where  he  could  reach  the  stranded  cruiser 
across  a  marsh,  a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  yards, 
with  his  guns.  Only  her  upper  decks  were  visible 
from  the  turret  of  the  monitor.  At  this  moment  the 
Union  gunboats  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  Fort  McAllis- 
ter, while  Worden  coolly  set  about  making  a  target  of 
the  Nashville,  in  spite  of  a  furious  protest  from  Fort 
McAllister.  A  few  shells  soon  determined  the  range, 
and  then  one  of  the  most  beautiful  exhibitions  of  tar- 
get firing  in  the  war  was  given.  In  twenty  minutes 
Commander  Worden  had  the  Nashville  on  fire  aft, 
forward  and  amidships,  in  spite  of  the  fog  that  at  one 
time  obstructed  the  view,  and  in  fifty  minutes  the  flames 
reached  the  magazine  and  she  blew  up.  So  excited  and 
exasperated  were  the  Confederates  at  the  audacious  at- 
tack of  the  monitor  that  the  fire  from  Fort  McAllister 
was  wild,  and  only  five  shot  struck  the  MontauJz.  This 
was  one  of  the  brilliant  achievements  of  the  civil  war. 
More  than  one  victory  has  been  won  by  tireless  watch- 
ing. Finding  that  he  could  make  no  serious  impression 
on  Fort  McAllister,  Worden,  instead  of  wasting  his 
powder,  quietly  bided  his  time.  When  the  Nashville 
grounded  his  quick  eye  took  in  the  situation  at  a 
glance.  He  seized  his  opportunity  and  snatched  a 
brilliant  victory  from  'a  tedious  and  unusually  inglori- 
ous blockade.  When  the  Montauk  was  retiring  from 
this  attack  a  hole  was  blown  in  her  bottom  by  a  tor- 
pedo. Worden  promptly  ran  her  ashore  and  had 
pieces  of  boiler  iron  bolted  over  the  wound,  and  con- 
tinued on  his  station. 

Anxious  to  subject  the  new  monitors  to  a  further 


1863.  SECOND   ATTACK  ON  I'ORT  McALLISTER.  4^3 

test,  and  at  the  same  time  give  their  officers  and  crews 
a  chance  to  become  more  familiar  with  the  novel  craft 
before  beginning  serious  operations  off  Charleston,  Du- 
pont  ordered  the  Passaic,  Captain  Percival  Drayton, 
the  Patapsco,  Commander  Daniel  Am  men,  and  the 
NaTiant,  Commander  John  A.  Downes,  with  three  13- 
inch  mortar  schooners,  to  join  the  MontauTc  in  an  at- 
tack upon  Fort  McAllister.  This  was  done  with  great 
spirit  on  March  30th,  but  the  shoaling  water  and  the 
line  of  piles  prevented  the  ironclads  from  approaching 
nearer  than  twelve  hundred  yards,  while  the  mortar 
schooners  took  a  position  at  four  thousand  yards.  For 
eight  hours  the  monitors  kept  up  a  heavy  tire,  but  al- 
though great  craters  were  made  in  the  parapets  and  two 
guns  were  disabled,  no  serious  injury  was  inflicted.  As 
Captain  Drayton  boldly  took  a  position  in  front  of  the 
fort,  where  seven  guns  bore  on  him,  his  vessel  was  se- 
verely handled.  She  was  struck  thirty-four  times. 
One  mortar  shell  tilled  with  sand  landed  on  her  deck 
and  would  have  penetrated  had  it  not  struck  a  beam. 
The  deck  of  the  monitor  was  badly  shattered  in  other 
places.  The  remaining  ironclads  came  out  of  the  action 
without  serious  injury.  During  the  attack  the  gun- 
boats Seneca,  Wissahickon  and  Dawn  took  a  position 
two  miles  from  the  fort,  to  signal  the  effect  of  the  shells. 
The  ironclads  that  were  built  for  the  Atlantic 
blockade  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1863,  and  by  April 
7th  Admiral  Dupont,  in  obedience  to  instructions 
from  Washington,  made  an  attack  on  Charleston.  He 
formed  his  line  of  battle  with  the  Weehawken,  Captain 
John  Rodgers,  leading,  followed  by  the  Passaic,  Cap- 
tain Percival  Drayton  ;  the  Montauk,  Captain  John 
Lorimer  Worden  ;  the  Patapsco,  Commander  Daniel 
Ammen  ;  the  New  Ironsides  (flagship),  Commander 
Thomas  Turner ;  the  CatsTcill,  Commander  George 
Washington  Rodgers ;  the  Nantucket,  Commander 
Donald  McNeil  Fairfax;  the  Nahant,  Commander 
John  A.  Downes ;  and  the  KeoTcuJc,  Commander  Alex- 


464:  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  186a 

ander  Golden  Rhind.  All  these  vessels,  excepting  the 
New  Ironsides  and  the  Keokuk,  were  ironclads  of  the 
monitor  type,  and  were  armed  with  one  15-inch  and  one 
11-inch  gun  each,  excepting  the  Patapsco,  which  carried 
a  150-pounder  rifled  gun  in  place  of  the  11-inch  gnn. 
The  New  Ironsides,  named  after  the  famous  44-gun 
frigate  Constitution,  was  protected  with  four  and  a 
half  inches  of  iron.  She  was  armed  with  two  150- 
pounder  rifled  guns  and  fourteen  11-inch  guns.  The 
Keokuk  also  was  an  experiment  in  iron-clad  ships.  She 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  feet  over  all,  had  thirty- 
nine  feet  beam,  eight  feet  draft  and  carried  two  turrets, 
in  which  were  two  11-inch  guns.  The  number  of  guns 
in  the  attacking  fleet  was  seven  15-inch,  twenty-two  11- 
inch  and  four  150-pounder  rifled  guns ;  in  all,  thirty- 
three  guns. 

The  defenses  of  Charleston  at  this  time  were  of  the 
most  formidable  character.  The  harbor  was  fairly 
bristling  with  cannon,  while  the  waters  were  filled 
with  piles  and  rope  obstructions  and  thickly  planted 
with  dangerous  torpedoes.  The  guns  bearing  on  the 
ironclads  were  ten  10-inch  columbiads,  two  9-inch  Dahl- 
gren  guns,  twenty  8-inch  guns,  two  7-inch  rifled  guns, 
six  rifled  42-pounders,  eight  rifled  32-pounders,  fifteen 
32-pounders,  one  rifled  24-pounder,  and  five  10-inch 
mortars ;  in  all,  sixty-nine  guns. 

Having  received  instructions  to  pay  no  attention  to 
the  guns  on  Morris  Island,  but  to  concentrate  their  fire 
on  the  center  embrasure  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  National 
vessels  got  under  way  at  1.15  P.  M.  ;  but  so  much  delay 
was  caused  by  the  cumbrous  torpedo-catcher  that  had 
been  rigged  on  the  bow  of  the  WeehawTcen  that  it  was 
2.50  P.  M.  before  the  vessels  were  in  gunshot  of  Fort 
Moultrie.  Soon  afterward  the  ironclads  were  subjected 
to  a  terrific  cross  fire,  and  as  the  Confederates  had 
long  since  determined  the  exact  range,  they  fired  with 
great  accuracy.  The  WeehawTcen  opened  at  3.05  P.  M., 
and  ran  close  up  to  the  rope  obstructions  between 


1863.  IRONCLADS  ATTACK  CHARLESTON.  455 

Forts  Sumter  and  Moultrie,  when  a  torpedo  exploded 
near  her  bow  ;  but  aside  from  straining  the  vessel  a 
little  it  did  no  serious  damage.  Observing  a  row  of 
casks  ahead,  and  thinking  it  imprudent  to  entangle 
his  vessel  in  the  rope  obstructions,  Captain  Rodgers 
turned  the  bow  of  his  monitor  seaward,  but  still  kept 
up  a  heavy  fire.  The  vessels  following  the  Weehaw- 
Tceris  lead  were  subjected  to  the  same  destructive  fire. 
In  order  to  avoid  a  collision  with  the  Nahant,  the 
Keokuk  ran  ahead  and  was  exposed  to  a  terrific  tire. 
In  thirty  minutes  she  was  struck  ninety  times,  nine- 
teen shot  piercing  her  hull  at  the  water  line,  while  her 
turrets  were  riddled.  Seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to 
keep  her  afloat,  Commander  Rhind  steamed  out  of 
range  and  anchored,  and  on  the  following  morning,  in 
spite  of  all  efforts,  she  sank  off  Morris  Island. 

After  braving  the  fire  of  sixty- nine  guns  for  about 
an  hour  the  ironclads  retired,  some  of  them  seriously 
injured.  During  the  attack  the  New  Ironsides  for  an 
hour  held  a  position  directly  over  a  boiler-iron  torpedo 
containing  two  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  which  was 
connected  by  wires  with  the  shore.  The  Confederates 
made  every  effort  to  explode  the  machine,  but  without 
success,  and  the  operator  was  accused  of  treachery,  un- 
til it  was  learned  that  one  of  the  wires  had  been  severed 
by  an  ordnance  wagon  passing  over  it. 

After  this  unsuccessful  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
Dupont,  by  the  special  direction  of  President  Lincoln, 
kept  up  a  formidable  demonstration  before  Charles- 
ton, so  as  to  divert  the  enemy's  attention  from  other 
points.  Learning  that  the  Confederates  were  com- 
pleting an  ironclad  of  the  Merrimac  type  at  Savannah, 
with  which  they  expected  to  raise  the  blockade,  Du- 
pont ordered  the  Weehaicken,  Captain  John  Rodgers, 
and  the  Nahant,  Commander  Downes,  to  Wassaw 
Sound  to  head  it  off.  This  ironclad,  christened  At- 
lanta, had  been  the  British  steamer  Fingal,  purchased 
on  the  Clyde  in  September,  1861.  At  that  time  she 
75 


466  OPERATIONS  OFF   CHARLESTON.  1861-18G3. 

was  a  new  ship  and  had  made  one  or  two  trips  to  the 
north  of  Scotland,  at  which  time  her  log  gave  her  thir- 
teen knots  an  hour.  In  October,  1861,  the  Fingal 
sailed  from  Greenock,  Scotland,  with  a  number  of 
Confederate  officers  aboard,  and  running  into  Holy- 
head,  on  a  stormy  night,  she  accidentally  sank  an  Aus- 
trian brig,  the  Siccardi.  Taking  aboard  some  Con- 
federate officers  at  this  point,  she  arrived  at  Bermuda, 
November  2d,  and  afterward  reached  Savannah. 

She  made  several  efforts  to  run  the  blockade,  but 
the  National  vessels  so  vigilantly  guarded  the  coast 
that  the  Confederates  found  it  impossible  to  get  her  to 
sea.  She  was  then  cut  down  to  the  main  deck,  which 
was  widened  amidships  and  overlaid  with  a  foot  of 
wood  and  iron  plating,  and  upon  this  foundation  was 
built  the  casemate,  the  sides  of  which  inclined  at  an 
angle  of  thirty- three  degrees.  She  was  two  hundred 
and  four  feet  over  all,  had  forty-one  feet  beam  and 
drew  fifteen  feet  nine  inches  of  water,  but  her  speed 
had  been  reduced  to  less  than  eight  knots  an  hour. 
Yet  even  this  speed  would  have  made  her  a  dangerous 
antagonist  for  the  slow-going  monitors.  The  top  of  the 
casemate  was  flat,  and  the  pilot  house  rose  three  feet 
above  it.  The  casemate  was  covered  with  four  inches  of 
iron  plates  in  two  layers,  laid  on  top  of  three  inches  of 
oak  and  fifteen  inches  of  pine.  The  Atlanta  was  fitted 
with  a  formidable  ram  and  a  spar  torpedo.  Her  arma- 
ment consisted  of  two  7-inch  Brooke  rifled  guns,  mount- 
ed on  pivots  in  the  bow  and  stern,  and  two  6 '4-inch 
Brooke  rifled  guns  in  the  broadside.  The  7-inch  guns 
could  be  used  with  broadside  guns,  so  that  there  were 
three  guns  to  each  broadside.  The  Confederates  were 
also  building  the  Georgia  after  the  same  plan.  This 
vessel  was  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  over  all  and  had 
sixty  feet  beam,  while  her  casemate  was  twelve  feet  high. 
The  Atlanta,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  William  A. 
Webb,  was  designed  as  a  seagoing  cruiser,  and  had  twen- 
ty-one officers  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  men. 


1863.  THE  WEEHAWKEN-ATLANTA   FIGHT.  457- 

Shortly  after  daylight,  June  17th,  the  Atlanta  was 
discovered  coming  down  Wilmington  River,  accom- 
panied by  several  steamers  filled  with  people  eager  to 
witness  the  expected  victory  over  the  monitors.  On 
making  out  the  ironclad,  the  Weehawken  and  the  Na- 
Tiant  slipped  their  cables  and  ran  down  to  the  east  end 
of  Wassaw  Island,  where  there  was  more  room  for 
manoeuvring.  Having  led  the  Atlanta  far  enough  out, 
the  monitors,  about  4.30  A.M.,  advanced  to  meet  the 
enemy.  While  yet  a  mile  and  a  half  away  Lieutenant 
Webb  fired  a  rifled  shell,  which  struck  the  water  be- 
yond the  Weehawken  and  near  the  Nahant.  Rodgers 
being  considerably  in  advance  of  his  consort,  at  5.15 
A.  M.  fired  a  shot  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  yards. 
This  missile  knocked  a  hole  in  the  Atlanta's  casemate, 
scattering  a  great  quantity  of  wood  and  iron  splinters 
over  her  gun  deck,  wounding  sixteen  men  and  prostrat- 
ing about  forty.  Another  shot  from  the  Weehawken 
struck  the  top  of  the  pilot  house,  crushing  and  driving 
down  the  bars  on  the  top  and  sides,  and  wounding 
both  pilots  and  two  helmsmen.  The  Weehawken  fired 
three  more  shots,  one  of  them  smashing  a  port  shutter 
and  starting  the  joint  of  the  casemate  with  the  deck. 

The  Atlanta  fired  in  all  eight  shot,  none  of  which 
struck  the  monitors.  At  5.30  A.  M.,  after  an  action  of 
only  fifteen  minutes,  Lieutenant  Webb  hauled  down 
his  colors.  A  prize  crew  was  placed  aboard  the  At- 
lanta, and  she  was  taken  to  Port  Royal.  She  was  re- 
paired, and  in  February,  1864,  she  was  stationed  at 
Hampton  Roads. 

On  July  4,  1863,  Rear- Admiral  John  Adolphe  Ber- 
nard Dahlgren  arrived  at  Port  Royal,  and  on  the  6th 
he  succeeded  Dupont  in  command  of  the  fleet.  With 
a  view  of  making  a  combined  naval  and  land  attack 
on  Morris  Island,  the  monitors,  at  4  A.  M.,  July  10th, 
crossed  the  bar  in  the  following  order— Catskill  (flag- 
ship), Montauk  (now  commanded  by  Commander  Fair- 
fax), Nahant,  Weehawken  (now  commanded  by  Com- 


468  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1863-1864 

mander  Edmund  R.  Colhoun) — and  attacked  the  Con- 
federate fortifications  at  the  southern  end  of  Morris 
Island.  At  the  same  time  General  Gillmore  opened  fire 
from  the  batteries  he  had  erected  on  the  northern  end 
of  Folly  Island.  After  four  hours  of  firing  the  Confed- 
erate batteries  were  silenced  and  the  National  troops 
took  possession.  The  ironclads  then  advanced  upon 
Fort  Wagner,  which  mounted  ten  or  twelve  heavy 
guns,  and,  taking  a  position  as  close  as  the  shoal  waters 
would  permit,  at  9.30,  opened  fire.  In  spite  of  the  suf- 
focating heat,  to  which  the  men  in  the  National  vessels 
were  little  accustomed,  a  severe  fire  was  maintained 
until  noon,  when,  two  engineers  and  several  firemen  in 
the  CatsTclll  being  prostrated  by  the  fearful  heat,  the 
monitors  dropped  out  of  action  to  allow  their  crews  to 
rest,  after  which  the  fight  was  renewed  until  6  p.  M., 
when  the  vessels  retired,  having  fired  five  hundred 
and  thirty-four  shells  and  shrapnel.  The  CatsTtill,  be- 
ing the  flagship,  received  the  largest  share  of  the 
enemy's  attention,  and  was  struck  sixty  times.  The 
side  of  her  pilot  house  was  bulged  in,  but  the  vessel 
was  not  disabled.  The  other  monitors  escaped — the 
WeehawTcen  without  a  shot  striking  her,  the  Montauk 
struck  only  twice,  and  the  Nahant  six  times.  Our 
troops  assaulted  Fort  Wagner  on  the  llth,  but  were 
repelled  with  heavy  losses.  On  that  and  the  following 
day  the  ships  shelled  the  Confederate  works. 

With  a  view  of  diverting  the  enemy's  attention  from 
Morris  Island,  the  troops  under  General  A.  H.  Terry 
were  sent  up  Stono  River,  accompanied  by  the  Pawnee, 
Commander  George  B.  Balch,  the  McDonough,  Lieu- 
tenant Bacon,  and  the  Marblehead,  Lieutenant  Scott. 
On  July  9th  the  monitor  Nantucket,  the  Pawnee,  the 
McDonough  and  the  Williams  opened  fire  on  James 
Island  while  the  troops  landed. ,  Two  days  later  a  Con- 
federate battery  opened  on  the  army  transport  Hunter, 
to  which  the  McDonough  and  the  Williams  promptly 
responded.  Early  on  the  16th  the  enemy  opened  on 


1863.  ATTACK  ON   FORT  WAGNER.  4^9 

the  Pawnee  and  the  Marblehead,  disabling  the  steering 
wheel  in  the  former.  The  fire  of  the  Pawnee  checked 
the  advance  of  the  Confederate  troops. 

On  the  18th  of  July  another  naval  and  land  attack 
was  made  on  Fort  Wagner,  the  vessels  firing  with  great 
precision.  At  4  P.  M.  they  ran  in  with  the  flood  tide 
within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  fort  and  silenced  its 
guns.  At  the  same  time  the  gunboats  Paul  Jones, 
Commander  Rhind ;  Ottawa,  Lieutenant-Commander 
AVilliam  Danforth  Whiting;  Seneca,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander William  Gibson ;  Chippewa,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Thomas  Cadwalader  Harris ;  WissaMckon, 
Lieutenant-Commander  John  Lee  Davis,  fired  with 
their  pivot  guns  at  long  range.  General  Gillmore  had 
erected  batteries  on  Morris  Island,  about  a  thousand 
yards  south  of  Fort  Wagner,  and  opened  an  effective 
fire.  As  evening  came  on  the  National  troops  made 
another  assault,  but  were  again  repelled. 

On  the  night  of  August  7th  the  Confederates  cap- 
tured a  Federal  barge  and  its  crew  between  James  and 
Morris  Islands.  On  the  following  night  Lieutenant 
Philip  Porcher,  in  the  Juno,  while  steaming  below 
Morris  Island,  captured  the  first  launch  of  the  Wabash 
and  a  12-pound  howitzer.  Twelve  men  of  the  launch's 
crew  threw  themselves  overboard,  five  being  drowned 
and  seven  being  rescued  by  the  other  picket  boats. 
The  remaining  eleven  were  captured.  On  August  4th 
a  picket  boat  captured  a  Confederate  launch  in  which 
was  Major  W.  F.  Warley  of  their  artillery. 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  the  Confederates  to 
destroy  the  National  vessels  by  torpedoes,  their  efforts 
being  directed  chiefly  against  the  New  Ironsides.  On 
the  night  of  October  5th  Lieutenant  William  T.  Glassell, 
in  command  of  a  David  torpedo  boat,  managed  to  get 
alongside  of  the  New  Ironsides  and  exploded  a  torpedo 
three  feet  under  water,  but,  although  giving  the  massive 
ship  a  bad  shaking  up,  it  did  no  vital  injury.  The 
torpedo  boat  was  destroyed  and  Lieutenant  Glassell 


4fr)  OPERATIONS  OFF   CHARLESTON.  1863. 

was  made  a  prisoner.  Expeditions  also  were  organized 
to  surprise  some  of  the  monitors  and  "  smother  "  them 
by  wedging  the  turrets,  covering  the  hatchways  with 
tarpaulins  and  throwing  explosives  down  the  smoke- 
stacks. On  the  night  of  April  12th  one  of  these  expe- 
ditions was  ready  to  start,  but  at  the  last  moment  the 
men  were  recalled. 

The  naval  and  land  attack  on  Fort  Wagner  was  not 
renewed  until  August  17th,  when  the  ironclads  Wee- 
hawken  (flagship),  Catskill,  Nahant,  MontauJc  and  New 
Ironsides  ran  in  with  the  flood  tide  within  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  of  the  enemy's  batteries  and  opened 
a  heavy  fire.  The  gunboats  Canandaigua,  Mahaska, 
Cimmerone,  Ottawa,  Wissahickon,  Dai  CMng  and 
Lodona  opened  fire  at  a  greater  distance.  In  two 
hours  Fort  Wagner  was  silenced.  Fort  Moultrie  occa- 
sionally reached  the  New  Ironsides  with  her  shot. 
While  the  bombardment  was  in  progress  the  pilot  house 
of  the  Catskill  was  struck  by  a  heavy  shot,  and  Com- 
mander George  Washington  Rodgers  and  Acting- As- 
sistant-Paymaster  Josiah  G.  Woodbury  were  killed, 
while  Pilot  Penton  and  Master's-Mate  Wescott  were 
wounded.  After  transferring  their  bodies  to  a  tugboat 
the  Catskill  resumed  her  fire.  At  one  time  Dahlgren, 
transferring  his  flag  to  the  Passaic,  accompanied  by 
the  Patapsco,  ran  within  two  thousand  yards  of  Sumter 
and  opened  an  effective  fire.  From  this  time  the  land 
batteries  kept  up  a  constant  fire  on  the  forts  and  bat- 
teries. 

Another  attack  was  made  on  Sumter  by  five  moni- 
tors on  August  23d.  Before  daybreak  they  ran  within 
range  and  kept  up  a  heavy  fire  until  6  A.  M.  A  night 
attack  was  made  by  all  the  ironclads  on  September  2d, 
and  in  five  hours  two  hundred  and  forty-five  shot  were 
fired  at  the  enemy.  In  this  affair  the  ironclads  were 
hit  seventy-one  times,  one  shot  driving  an  iron  fragment 
in  the  Weehawken,  which  broke  Captain  Badger's  leg. 
During  these  attacks  the  four  rifled  guns  that  had  been 


1863.  BOAT  ATTACK.  4-^ 

landed  and  fired  nnder  the  direction  of  Commander 
Foxhall  A.  Parker  did  good  service. 

On  the  night  of  September  6th  the  Confederates 
evacuated  Morris  Island.  On  the  following  night  the 
Weehawken,  in  attempting  to  pass  into  the  harbor  be- 
tween Sumter  and  Cumming's  Point,  grounded  and  re- 
mained in  that  position  until  daylight.  As  soon  as  she 
was  discovered  the  Confederates  opened  from  their 
batteries  on  Sullivan  and  James  Islands.  The  monitor 
responded  as  well  as  she  could,  and  some  of  her  shells 
caused  an  explosion  in  Fort  Moultrie,  destroyed  an 
8-inch  columbiad,  killed  sixteen  men  and  wounded 
twelve.  The  New  Ironsides,  Captain  Rowan,  with  the 
other  monitors,  observing  the  perilous  position  of  their 
consort,  ran  in  and  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the  enemy 
until  the  Weehawken  was  floated  off.  On  this  day  the 
Patapsco  made  a  handsome  dash  into  the  harbor  to 
examine  the  obstructions. 

With  a  view  of  surprising  Fort  Sumter,  a  boat  ex- 
pedition under  the  command  of  Commander  Thomas 
Holdup  Stevens  attacked  the  fort  on  the  night  of  Sep- 
tember 8th.  The  boats  moved  in  five  divisions,  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant-Commander  Edward  P.  Wil- 
liams, Lieutenants  George  C.  Remey,  S.  W.  Preston 
and  Francis  J.  Higginson,  and  Ensign  Charles  H. 
Craven.  There  was  also  a  detachment  of  marines 
under  Captain  McCawley,  making  a  total  force  of  four 
hundred  men.  Unfortunately,  the  Confederates  had 
learned  of  the  proposed  attack.  The  boats  in  tow  of 
a  tug,  when  about  eight  hundred  yards  from  Sumter, 
dropped  the  line,  and,  receiving  their  final  instructions 
and  the  watchword,  pulled  for  the  fort.  Lieutenant 
Higginson's  division  was  to  make  a  diversion  toward 
the  northwest  front,  while  the  main  attack  was  to  be 
made  on  the  southeast  front.  Through  a  misunder- 
standing, however,  the  boats  followed  Higginson's  di- 
vision. When  they  approached  the  fort  a  heavy  fire 
of  shell,  hand  grenades  and  small  arms  was  opened, 


472  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1863. 

while  the  Confederate  gunboats  and  rams  poured  in  a 
cross  fire.  Several  of  the  boats  got  their  men  ashore, 
where  they  were  promptly  captured,  but  the  others, 
finding  that  the  Confederates  were  prepared,  retreated. 
The  Nationalists  had  three  men  killed,  while  thirteen 
officers  and  one  hundred  and  two  men  were  made  pris- 
oners. 

The  army  batteries  again  opened  on  Fort  Sumter, 
October  26th,  while  the  Patapsco  and  the  LehigJi 
opened  a  cross  fire  with  the  150-pounder  rifled  guns. 

On  the  6th  of  December,  while  the  commander  of 
the  Weehawken,  Commander  Jesse  Duncan,  was  aboard 
the  flagship,  the  monitor  suddenly  sank.  The  disaster 
was  due  to  leaks  in  the  vessel.  The  monitors  gen- 
erally had  been  trimmed  so  that  the  stern  would  be 
deeper  than  the  bow,  by  which  means  all  water  ac- 
cumulating from  leaks  would  run  aft  and  could  be 
thrown  out  by  powerful  pumps.  The  Weehawken, 
however,  had  been  taking  aboard  a  number  of  heavy 
shells.  The  ironclads  frequently  had  been  compelled 
to  run  out  of  action  for  want  of  ammunition,  and  to 
increase  her  supply  the  WeeJiawkeri s  forward  hold 
was  filled  with  15-inch  shells.  This  brought  her  bow 
down  so  much  that  the  water  did  not  run  aft  freely. 
In  the  heavy  swells  the  vessel  took  in  considerable 
quantities  of  water  through  the  hawse  holes,  which, 
accumulating  in  the  forward  extremity  of  the  vessel, 
gradually  brought  her  down  by  the  head.  This  pre- 
vented the  pumps  from  reaching  the  water  that  accu- 
mulated. The  increase  of  water  in  the  vessel  was  so 
gradual  that  there  was  no  apprehension  of  danger  un- 
til a  few  minutes  before  she  went  down,  when  the  sig- 
nal "Assistance  required"  was  given.  Five  minutes 
afterward  the  WeeTiawTcen  rolled  heavily  to  starboard, 
and,  gradually  settling,  she  rose  to  an  upright  position 
and  plunged  to  the  bottom,  carrying  down  four  officers 
and  twenty  seamen. 

At  .six  o'clock  on  Christmas  morning  the  Marble- 


1804-1865.  SINKING  OF  THE  WEEHAWKEN.  473 

head,  Lieutenant-Commander  Meade,  while  at  anchor 
near  Legareville  had  an  engagement  of  an  hour  and  a 
half  with  the  Confederate  batteries  on  John's  Island. 
Hearing  the  sound  of  shotted  guns,  Commander  Balch, 
in  the  Pawnee,  with  the  mortar  schooner  Williams, 
Acting-Master  Freeman,  got  under  way  and  opened  a 
cross  fire  on  the  Confederates,  driving  them  from  their 
guns.  In  this  affair  the  Marblehead  had  three  men 
killed  and  four  wounded,  and  her  hull  had  been  struck 
twenty  times. 

While  lying  off  Charleston  on  the  night  of  April 
18th,  the  WabasTi  was  approached  by  a  torpedo  boat, 
but  by  slipping  her  cables  and  going  ahead  she  avoided 
trouble.  A  round  shot  struck  the  machine,  and  it 
was  seen  no  more.  On  the  9th  of  July  a  naval  force 
assisted  General  Schimmelfennig,  who  commanded  the 
troops  in  an  attack  on  James  Island. 

On  the  morning  of  November  5th  the  Palapsco  de- 
stroyed a  sloop  that  had  run  aground  near  Fort  Moul- 
trie.  Five  days  later  the  Pontiac,  while  endeavoring 
to  pick  up  her  anchor  near  Moultrie,  was  struck  by  a 
rifled  shell,  which  killed  five  men  and  wounded  seven. 
On  the  night  of  the  15th  of  January,  1865,  the  Patapsco, 
while  on  picket  duty  near  the  line  of  obstructions,  was 
struck  by  a  torpedo  and  sank  in  fifteen  seconds,  in  five 
fathoms  of  water.  Of  her  crew,  numbering  one  hundred 
and  seven  men,  only  five  officers  and  thirty-eight  men 
escaped. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  1864,  the  Housatonic  was 
sunk  by  a  torpedo  boat.  This  submarine  craft  had  a 
singular  history.  She  was  built  in  Mobile,  in  1863,  and 
was  designed  to  dive  under  water,  the  motive  power  be- 
ing a  propeller  worked  by  eight  men.  While  on  her  trial 
trip  she  sank,  the  crew  of  ten  men  suffocating.  Being 
raised,  she  was  taken  to  Charleston  in  1864,  where  she 
was  sunk  by  the  wash  of  a  passing  steamer,  her  crew, 
with  the  exception  of  Lieutenant  Payne,  going  down 
with  her.  She  was  raised,  but  while  at  the  wharf  near 


474  OPERATIONS  OFF  CHARLESTON.  1864-1865. 

Fort  Sumter  sank  for  the  third  time,  carrying  down 
all  her  men  excepting  Lieutenant  Payne  and  two  sea- 
men. Soon  afterward  she  made  several  successful  dives 
in  Stono  River,  but  at  last  stuck  her  nose  in  the  mud 
at  the  bottom  of  the  river  and  the  crew  suffocated. 
For  the  fourth  time  she  was  raised,  but  in  attempting 
to  dive  under  a  schooner  for  practice  she  fouled  the 
cables,  and  again  the  crew  perished.  After  being  under 
water  a  week  she  was  raised,  and  Lieutenant  George  E. 
Dixon,  with  Captain  J.  F.  Carlson  and  five  men,  volun- 
teered to  go  in  her  and  blow  up  the  Housatonic,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  torpedo  boat  had  already 
been  the  coffin  of  over  thirty  men.  The  daring  men 
set  out  a  little  before  nine  o'clock,  February  17th,  and 
came  near  the  Federal  ship  before  discovery,  and  ex- 
ploded the  torpedo.  The  Housatonic  sank  quickly, 
carrying  down  Ensign  Hazeltine  and  four  men,  while 
the  rest  of  the  crew  took  refuge  in  the  rigging,  which 
remained  above  water  when  the  hull  touched  bottom. 
The  torpedo  boat,  however,  never  came  to  the  surface 
again.  After  the  war,  when  the  wrecks  off  Charleston 
were  being  removed,  the  boat  was  discovered  on  the 
bottom  about  a  hundred  feet  from  the  Housatonic  ;  all 
her  men  were  at  their  stations. 

On  the  approach  of  General   Sherman's  army  the 
Confederates,  on  February  17th,  evacuated  Charleston. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE   RAM   ALBEMARLE. 

THE  loss  of  Roanoke  Island  and  its  adjacent  waters 
was  a  severer  blow  to  the  Confederates  than  the  Na- 
tional Government  at  first  realized.  Roanoke  Island 
was  the  key  to  all  the  rear  defenses  of  Norfolk,  and  ten 
of  the  most  important  rivers  in  North  Carolina  flowed 
into  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  Sounds,  by  means  of  which 
the  Nationalists  could  make  their  way  far  into  the 
interior.  The  Albemarle  and  Chesapeake  and  the 
Northwest  and  Norfolk  Canals  and  two  railroads — 
the  Petersburg  and  Norfolk  and  the  Seaboard  and 
Roanoke — were  largely  in  their  power,  and  the  com- 
mand of  General  Huger  was  cut  off  from  its  most  effi- 
cient means  of  transportation.  Gosport  Navy  Yard 
and  the  Confederate  forces  at  that  point  were  endan- 
gered. 

Realizing  the  importance  of  these  sounds,  the  Con- 
federates made  several  gallant  efforts  to  recover  them. 
On  March  14, 1863,  they  made  a  sudden  attack  on  Fort 
Anderson,  which  the  Nationalists  had  built  on  the  River 
Neuse,  opposite  New  Berne,  and  bombarded  the  place 
for  several  hours  ;  but  with  the  assistance  of  the  gun- 
boats Hetzel  and  Hunchback  this  attack  was  repelled. 
On  January  30,  1864,  the  Confederates  made  another 
dashing  attempt  to  recapture  the  place.  The  gunboats 
LocTcwood,  Commodore  Hull  and  Underwriter  were 
guarding  the  river  side  of  the  town.  A  boat-expedi- 
tion under  the  command  of  Commander  John  Taylor 
Wood  made  a  night  attack  on  the  Underwriter,  then 
commanded  by  Acting-Master  Jacob  Westervelt,  and 

475 


476  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1863.    ! 

in  the  desperate  fight  that  took  place  on  the  decks  of  j 
the  gunboat  the  Nationalists  were  finally  overpowered, 
having  had  nine  killed,  twenty  wounded  and  nineteen   | 
made  prisoners,  while  the  Confederate  loss  was  six 
killed  and  twenty-two  wounded.    The  Confederates  de- 
stroyed the  Underwriter  and  escaped. 

Recognizing  the  necessity  of  an  ironclad  of  the  Mer- 
rimac  type  to  co-operate  with  them  on  these  sounds,  the  ! 
Confederates  began  the  construction  of  several  such  ves- 
sels, which,  it  was  confidently  asserted,  would  make  short 
work  of  the  frail  wooden  gunboats  that  composed  the  Na- 
tional fleet  in  the  North  Carolina  waters.  Early  in  1863 
they  began  work  on  the  Albemarle,  at  Edward's  Ferry, 
some  miles  up  the  Roanoke.  The  building  of  the  craft 
proceeded  under  great  difficulties.  Several  contracts 
for  construction  of  war- vessels  were  made,  but  were 
broken  off  on  account  of  the  activity  of  the  National 
forces.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  the  case  of  the  Albe- 
marle was  in  securing  iron,  and  the  country  was  ran- 
sacked for  miles  around  for  bolts,  bars  and  metal  in 
every  form  for  the  construction  of  the  ironclad.  Captain 
Cooke,  who  was  chiefly  interested  in  the  Albemarle,  be- 
came known  as  the  "  Ironmonger  Captain."  The  keel 
was  laid  in  an  open  cornfield,  while  an  ordinary  black- 
smith's  outfit  constituted  the  plant  for  building.  Even 
the  most  enthusiastic  had  little  hopes  of  a  successful 
war-ship  constructed  under  such  circumstances.  The 
contractor  was  Gilbert  Elliott,  and  the  plans  were  per- 
fected by  Chief-Constructor  John  L.  Porter,  who  also 
was  concerned  in  the  building  of  the  Merrimac.  The 
craft  was  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  feet  overall,  had 
forty-five  feet  beam  and  drew  eight  feet  of  water.  The 
casemate,  built  of  massive  pine  timbers,  covered  with 
four-inch  planking,  was  sixty  feet  long  and  was  covered 
with  two  layers  of  2-inch  iron.  The  vessel  was  pro- 
pelled by  twin  screws,  operated  by  engines  of  two 
hundred  horse  power  each.  She  was  armed  with  an 
Armstrong  100-pounder  in  the  bow  and  one  in  the 


1804  APPROACH  OF  THE  RAM.  477 

stern,  while  the  casemate  was  so  pierced  that  they  could 
be  used  as  broadside  or  quarter  guns. 

On  April  17th  and  18th  the  Confederate  troops  under 
General  Hoke  made  a  desperate  attack  on  Plymouth. 
The  wooden  gunboats  Miami  and  Southfield,  mounting 
five  9-inch  guns  and  a  rifled  100-pounder  each,  were  in 
the  river,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Charles  W. 
Flusser,  and  gave  great  assistance  in  checking  the  Con- 
federate assaults.  Lieutenant  Flusser  was  aware  that 
the  Albemarle  was  nearly  completed,  but  obstructions 
had  been  placed  across  the  river  a  little  above  the  town, 
which  would  prevent  her  coming  down  and  taking  part 
in  the  attack.  The  unusually  high  water  in  the  river, 
however,  enabled  the  ram  to  float  over  the  obstructions, 
and  on  the  night  of  April  18,  1864,  under  the  command 
of  Captain  James  Wallace  Cooke,  she  approached  the 
Union  vessels.  Down  to  the  moment  of  going  into  ac- 
tion the  men  had  been  at  work  completing  the  ship. 
John  N.  Maffitt,  of  the  Confederate  navy,  says:  "At 
early  dawn  on  the  18th  steam  was  up,  ten  portable 
forges,  with  numerous  sledge  hammers,  were  placed  on 
board,  and  thus  equipped  the  never- failing  Cooke  start- 
ed on  his  voyage  in  a  floating  workshop.  ...  On  the 
turtle-back  numerous  stages  were  suspended,  thronged 
with  sailors  wielding  sledge  hammers.  Upon  the  pilot 
house  stood  Captain  Cooke,  giving  directions.  Some 
of  the  crew  were  being  exercised  at  one  of  the  big  guns. 
4  Drive  in  spike  No.  10 !'  sang  out  the  commander. 
'  On  nut  below  and  screw  up  !  Serve  vent  and  sponge ! 
Load  with  cartridge  ! '  was  the  next  command.  '  Drive 
in  No.  11,  port  side— so  !  On  nut  and  screw  up  hard ! 
Load  with  shell— Prime ! '  And  in  this  seeming  babel 
of  words  the  floating  monster  glided  by  on  her  trial 
trip  and  into  action." 

At  midnight,  April  19th,  the  Albemarle  was  discov- 
ered by  the  picket  boats.  In  case  the  ram  succeeded 
in  passing  the  obstruction  Lieutenant  Flusser  had  con- 
nected the  Miami  and  the  Southfield  with  long  spars 


478  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864. 

and  chains,  intending  to  hold  the  ironclad  between  the 
two  vessels,  which  would  in  some  degree  counterbal- 
ance the  Confederate  advantage  of  armor  plating.  As 
soon  as  Captain  Cooke  found  that  he  had  been  discov- 
ered, he  hugged  the  southern  shore,  so  as  to  avoid  run- 
ning between  the  two  gunboats,  and  when  nearly  abreast 
of  them  he  put  on  a  full  head  of  steam,  and,  running 
diagonally  across  the  river,  passed  the  Miami's  bow 
and  rammed  the  Southfield.  The  iron  beak  of  the  Albe- 
marle  struck  the  starboard  bow  and  entered  the  fire 
room  of  the  gunboat,  and  the  chain  plates  on  the  for- 
ward deck  of  the  ram  became  entangled  with  the 
Southfield's  hull.  As  the  South-field  settled  and  grad- 
ually sank  she  carried  down  the  bow  of  the  ironclad, 
so  that  the  water  poured  through  the  forward  open 
ports,  and  both  vessels  would  have  sunk  had  not  the 
Southfield,  on  touching  bottom,  rolled  over  and  released 
the  Albemarle. 

Both  gunboats,  as  soon  as  the  ironclad  was  discov- 
ered, had  opened  a  heavy  fire  with  shells ;  but  these, 
on  striking  the  iron  casemate,  were  shivered  into  thou- 
sands of  pieces.  Lieutenant  Flusser,  who  stood  behind 
a  gun  in  the  Miami,  fired  a  heavy  shell  at  a  distance  of 
a  few  feet  at  the  Albemarle,  but  the  missile  was  only 
shattered  into  fragments,  which,  bounding  back,  killed 
Flusser,  tearing  him  almost  to  pieces,  and  wounded  a 
dozen  other  men.  When  it  was  seen  that  the  South- 
field  would  sink,  the  lashings  were  cut  and  many  of 
the  Southfield^  s  crew  jumped  on  the  Miami's  deck. 
Some  of  the  Miami's  people  attempted  to  board  the 
ram,  but  were  repelled.  Realizing  the  hopelessness  of 
the  struggle,  the  Miami  with  two  tugboats  retreated 
down  the  river,  exchanging  shot  with  the  ram  as  long 
as  the  guns  bore.  On  the  following  day  Plymouth  sur- 
rendered to  General  Hoke.  The  Bombshell  had  been 
sunk  by  the  Confederate  land  artillery.  This  vessel 
was  an  ordinary  canal-boat  mounting  one  gun  and  two 
light  pieces.  She  had  been  purchased  for  the  Burnside 


1864      WOODEN  GUNBOATS  AGAINST  THE  IRONCLAD.       479 

expedition  together  with  four  other  vessels  of  this  class, 
which  bore  the  warlike  names  of  Grapeshot,  Shrapnel, 
Grenade  and  Rocket.  These  vessels  were  officered  and 
manned  by  the  Marine  Artillery  Corps  under  Colonel 
Haward,  formerly  of  the  revenue  service.  The  Con- 
federates afterward  raised  the  Bombshell. 

The  Nationalists  rightly  conjectured  that  this  was 
only  a  beginning  of  the  programme  laid  out  for  the 
Albemarle,  and  that  in  a  short  time  she  might  be  ex- 
pected in  the  sound  to  give  battle  to  the  wooden  gun- 
boats. In  anticipation  of  this,  Captain  Melancton 
Smith  stationed  the  double-ender  gunboats  Mattabe- 
sett,  Commander  John  C.  Febiger ;  Sassacus,  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Francis  A.  Roe ;  Wyalusing,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Walter  W.  Queen ;  and  Miami, 
Acting- Volunteer- Lieutenant  Charles  A.  French :  and 
the  ferryboats  Commodore  Hull,  Acting-Master  Francis 
Josselyn ;  Whitehead,  Acting-Ensign  G.  W.  Barrett ;  and 
Ceres,  Acting-Master  H.  H.  Foster,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Roanoke  to  watch  for  the  Albemarle.  The  armament 
of  the  double-enders  consisted  of  two  100-pounder  Par- 
rott  guns,  four  9-inch,  four  24  pounders  and  two  12- 
pounder  howitzers.  The  Sassacus  carried  two  addi- 
tional 20-pounders,  while  the  Miami  had  been  fitted 
with  a  torpedo,  which  was  to  be  exploded  under  the 
hull  of  the  ironclad,  and  she  was  also  provided  with  a 
net,  which  was  to  entangle  the  propellers. 

On  May  5th  the  Albemarle  came  out  of  Roanoke 
River,  accompanied  by  the  Bombshell,  filled  with  two 
hundred  sharpshooters,  and  the  transport  Cotton  Plant, 
for  the  purpose  of  escorting  military  supplies  to  Alliga- 
tor River  by  order  of  Commander  R.  F.  Pinckney, 
commander  of  the  Confederate  naval  force  in  North 
Carolina  waters.  On  the  completion  of  this  errand, 
Captain  Cooke  intended  to  make  an  extended  cruise  on 
the  sound  against  the  Union  gunboats.  As  soon  as  the 
Confederate  vessels  were  discovered,  Captain  Smith 
got  his  little  squadron  under  way,  and  shortly  before 


480  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864 

5  P.  M.  drew  near  the  enemy,  then  fourteen  miles  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Roanoke.  It  was  reported  that 
thirty  armed  launches,  then  being  fitted  out  in  Chowan 
River  under  Lieutenant  R.  B.  Minor,  would  come  out 
and  join  the  Albemarle.  The  smaller  Union  vessels 
were  directed  to  look  out  for  them,  the  Bombshell  and 
the  Cotton  Plant,  while  the  larger  vessels  were  to  pass 
the  ram,  deliver  their  broadsides,  and  then,  turning, 
repeat  the  manoeuvre.  While  they  were  yet  at  some 
distance  a  puff  of  white  smoke  and  a  faint  flash  from 
the  Albemarle's  forward  gun  were  seen,  showing  that 
the  Confederates  had  opened  the  battle.  This  was 
quickly  followed  by  another  discharge,  and  two  shells 
skillfully  aimed  cut  away  the  rails  and  spars  and 
wounded  six  men  at  the  Mattabesetff  s  rifled  pivot  gun. 

The  Mattabesett,  followed  by  her  consorts,  avoided 
the  Albemarle's  attempt  to  ram,  and  passing,  delivered 
broadsides  of  solid  9-inch  and  100-pound  shot.  These 
missiles,  although  delivered  at  short  range  and  with 
full  charges  of  powder,  glanced  harmlessly  from  the 
iron  casemate.  The  gunboats  then  turned  and  endeav- 
ored to  renew  the  action  on  the  other  side,  but  the 
Albemarle  also  turned,  thus  forming  the  ships  in  a  cir- 
cle. Well  knowing  that  he  could  not  hope  to  inflict 
serious  injury  by  cannon-fire  alone,  Captain  Smith  had 
instructed  his  vessels  to  attempt  ramming.  The  Sas- 
sacus,  after  passing  the  Albemarle,  captured  the 
Bombshell.  About  this  time  she  was  four  hundred 
yards  from  the  ironclad,  and  observing  her  change 
course  a  little  so  as  to  avoid  ramming  from  the  Matta- 
besett, Roe  saw  his  opportunity  to  strike  a  full  blow 
on  the  broadside.  He  ordered  his  engineer  to  put  oil 
and  waste  on  the  fires  so  as  to  get  a  full  head  of  steam. 
Then,  backing  until  he  had  secured  the  right  position, 
he  gave  the  order  for  full  speed. 

On  went  the  swift  Sassacus  at  the  top  of  her  speed, 
aimed  straight  for  the  ram's  side,  and  all  hands  were 
ordered  to  lie  down  just  before  the  collision  took  place. 


1864.  ROE'S  HEROIC  DASH.  481 

The  Sassacus  struck  the  ironclad  at  right  angles  on 
the  starboard  side  just  abaft  the  casemate.  The  shock 
was  terrific,  careening  the  Albemarle  over  and  tearing 
away  the  bow  of  the  Sassacus.  The  Sassacus  swung 
alongside,  and  her  paddle-wheel,  continuing  to  revolve, 
struck  the  deck  of  the  ironclad  and  forced  the  vessel 
several  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  many 
of  the  Confederates  believed  they  were  sinking.  The 
Albemarle  righted,  however,  and  it  was  discovered  that 
she  had  not  been  seriously  injured.  About  the  time  of 
the  collision  the  Confederates  fired  100-pound  shot, 
which  crashed  through  the  wooden  side  of  the  Sassa- 
cus as  if  it  had  been  so  much  paper.  Assistant-Sur- 
geon Edgar  Holden,  who  was  in  the  Sassacus,  said : 
"Through  the  starboard  shutter,  which  had  been  partly 
jarred  off  by  the  concussion,  I  saw  the  port  of  the  ram 
not  ten  feet  away.  It  opened,  and  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning I  saw  the  grim  muzzle  of  the  cannon,  the  gun's 
crew  naked  to  the  waist  and  blackened  with  powder ; 
then  a  blaze,  a  roar  and  the  rush  of  the  shell  as  it 
crashed  through,  whirling  me  round  and  dashing  me 
to  the  deck."1 

The  Confederates  followed  this  up  with  a  shot  that 
pierced  one  of  the  boilers  of  the  Sassacus,  and  in  an 
instant  the  lower  deck  was  filled  with  steam,  which 
scalded  many  of  the  crew.  The  enemy  then  attempted 
to  board,  but  was  repelled.  The  disabled  Sassacus 
slowly  drifted  out  of  action,  but  heroically  kept  up  a 
fire  as  long  as  she  was  in  range.  But  another  danger 
threatened  the  gunboat.  In  order  to  ram  the  ironclad, 
Captain  Roe  had  ordered  a  full  head  of  steam.  The 
lower  decks  were  now  filled  with  steam  and  the  remain- 
ing boilers  were  in  danger  of  exploding.  Realizing 
the  peril  First-Assistant-Engineer  James  M.  Hobby 
called  on  his  men  to  follow  him  into  the  fire-room  and 
draw  the  fires.  This  was  done  none  too  soon,  and, 

1  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  iv,  p.  629. 
76 


482  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864 

blinded  and  helpless,  the  heroic  engineer  was  then 
brought  back  to  the  deck. 

The  other  vessels  of  the  squadron  kept  up  a  heavy 
fire  on  the  ironclad,  but  were  unable  to  injure  their 
shot-proof  antagonist.  As  night  came  on,  the  Albe- 
marle  retired  up  the  river.  She  had  been  severely 
battered,  but  not  disabled.  One  of  her  two  guns  had  its 
muzzle  cracked,  her  smokestack  was  riddled,  her  tiller 
had  been  disabled  and  everything  exposed  outside  of 
her  casemate  had  been  swept  away.  With  a  few  re- 
pairs, she  was  once  more  as  formidable  as  ever.  On 
May  24th  she  came  down  the  river  to  drag  for  torpedoes, 
but  finding  the  Whitehead  on  guard  she  retreated.  In 
this  desperate  battle  the  Mattabesett  had  two  men  killed 
and  six  wounded ;  the  Sassacus,  one  killed,  six  wound- 
ed and  thirteen  scalded  ;  the  Wyalusing,  one  killed. 

Although  driven  from  the  sound,  the  Albemarle 
was  a  constant  menace  to  the  fleet.  An  attempt  was 
made  on  May  25th  to  destroy  her  with  torpedoes.  A 
party  of  volunteers  from  the  Wyalusing — consisting  of 
Coxswain  John  W.  Lloyd,  firemen  Allen  Crawford  and 
John  Laverty,  and  coal-heavers  Charles  Baldwin  and 
Benjamin  Lloyd— pulled  up  a  branch  of  the  Roanoke 
in  a  boat  containing  two  torpedoes.  Reaching  a  point 
opposite  Plymouth,  eight  miles  from  the  mouth,  where 
the  ram  was  moored,  the  men  landed,  and,  carrying  the 
torpedoes  across  the  intervening  swamp  on  a  stretcher, 
they  reached  the  Roanoke.  Swimming  across  the 
river,  John  W.  Lloyd  and  Baldwin  hauled  the  torpe- 
does to  the  Plymouth  side.  The  machines  were  then 
connected  by  a  bridle  and  floated  downstream,  guided 
by  Baldwin,  with  the  intention  of  exploding  them 
across  the  bow  of  the  ram ;  but  when  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  ironclad  the  line  fouled  a  schooner,  and 
at  the  same  time  Baldwin  was  discovered  by  a  sentry 
on  the  wharf  and  a  volley  of  musketry  was  fired. 
The  men  then  scattered,  and  after  wandering  several 
days  in  the  swamps  they  regained  their  vessels. 


1864.  LIEUTENANT   WILLAM  B.  GUSHING.  483 

Hearing  that  the  Confederates  had  nearly  com- 
pleted a  sister  ship  to  the  Albemarle,  the  Government 
decided  to  attempt  her  destruction  at  her  moorings. 
Two  steam  picket  boats  with  spar  torpedoes  attached, 
which  were  the  invention  of  First- Assistant-Engineer 
John  L.  Lay  and  were  introduced  by  Chief-Engineer 
William  Willis  Wiley  Wood,  were  fitted  out  under 
the  direction  of  Edward  Gregory  in  New  York.  The 
bows  of  the  boats  were  decked  over,  and  the  engines 
were  so  constructed  that  when  they  were  covered  with 
tarpaulins  all  light  and  sound  were  shut  in,  and  at  low 
speed  they  made  scarcely  any  noise.  A  12-pounder 
howitzer  was  mounted  in  the  bow,  and  a  spar  was  fitted 
on  the  starboard  bow,  at  the  end  of  which  a  torpedo 
was  to  be  attached. 

Lieutenant  William  Barker  dishing  was  selected 
to  command  the  expedition.  This  officer,  although 
only  twenty-one  years  old,  was  celebrated  for  the  many 
daring  and  successful  expeditions  he  had  led  while  in 
command  of  the  Mont f cello  off  Cape  Fear  River.  On 
the  night  of  February  28,  1864,  accompanied  by  Act- 
ing-Ensign J.  E.  Jones,  Acting-Master's  Mate  William 
L.  Howarth  and  twenty  men,  in  two  boats,  he  boldly 
passed  Fort  Caswell  and  landed  in  front  of  the  hotel 
at  Smithville,  opposite  which  were  the  barracks  in 
which  the  garrison  of  about  a  thousand  men  was  quar- 
tered. Concealing  his  companions  under  the  bank, 
Gushing,  with  two  officers  and  a  seaman,  entered  Gen- 
eral Hebert's  headquarters  and  captured  an  engineer 
officer.  General  Hebert  himself  was  absent.  Return- 
ing to  the  boat  with  his  prisoner,  Gushing  pulled  be- 
yond the  fort  before  the  Confederates  could  fire  on 
him,  although  the  alarm  had  been  given. 

On  the  night  of  the  following  June  23d  Gushing 
again  entered  the  river  with  Howarth  and  fifteen  men 
in  a  boat,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  ironclad 
ram  Raleigh,  which  the  Confederates  had  constructed 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  blockade.  This  vessel, 


484:  THE   RAM   ALBEMARLB.  1864. 

on  the  night  of  May  6,  1864,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  William  F.  Lynch,  and  accompanied  by  two 
small  river  steamers,  the  Tadkin  and  the  Equator,  and 
under  cover  of  darkness,  attacked  the  blockading  ves- 
sels. After  exchanging  shot  with  the  National  vessels 
without  much  damage  on  either  side,  the  Raleigh  re- 
turned to  the  river,  but  in  crossing  the  bar  she  strained 
herself.  It  was  deemed  necessary  to  destroy  this  iron- 
clad, and  Gushing  volunteered  for  the  hazardous  service. 
When  the  boat  was  fifteen  miles  from  the  starting-point 
the  moon  revealed  it  to  the  enemy.  Pulling  downstream 
as  if  retreating  until  he  reached  the  shade  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  Gushing  again  headed  upstream  unobserved, 
and  at  daybreak,  when  within  seven  miles  of  Wilming- 
ton, he  hid  his  boat  in  a  swamp.  On  the  following 
night  he  captured  a  fishing  party  and  compelled  them 
to  act  as  guides,  and  with  their  aid  he  thoroughly  ex- 
amined the  obstructions  in  the  river  three  miles  below 
the  town.  The  next  morning  Gushing  moved  up  one 
of  the  creeks  until  he  came  to  a  road,  where  he  left  his 
men  and  landed.  Reaching  the  main  road  between 
Wilmington  and  Fort  Fisher,  he  captured  a  courier 
with  valuable  information.  Two  hours  later  he  at- 
tempted to  seize  another  courier  from  the  town,  but, 
although  chase  was  given  on  horseback,  the  courier 
escaped.  Howarth  then  disguised  himself  in  the 
clothes  of  the  first  courier,  went  to  a  store,  and  secured 
provisions  without  exciting  suspicion,  although  con- 
versing freely  with  the  people  he  met.  Having  as- 
certained that  the  Raleigh  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  Confederates,  the  adventurers  on  the  third  night 
set  out  on  their  return.  When  they  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  river  they  were  discovered  and  surround- 
ed by  nine  guard  boats  and  a  schooner  filled  with 
troops.  With  indomitable  pluck  Gushing  made  a 
dash  for  the  western  bar,  hotly  pursued  by  the  Con- 
federate boats.  Availing  himself  of  the  shade,  he 
suddenly  changed  his  course  for  New  Inlet,  and  after 


1864.  DEFENSIVE  PRECAUTIONS.  435 

an  absence  of  three  days  lie  rejoined  his  ship  without 
loss. 

On  the  completion  of  the  picket  boats  in  New  York 
they  were  taken  to  Norfolk  by  way  of  the  canals,  but 
in  crossing  Chesapeake  Bay  one  of  them  was  lost. 
From  Norfolk  they  reached  Albemarle  Sound  by  the 
canal  in  October,  and  Lieutenant  Gushing  reported  to 
Commander  Macomb,  of  the  Shamrock,  who  was  then 
the  senior  officer  in  these  waters.  At  this  time  the 
Albemarle  was  commanded  by  Captain  Alexander  F. 
Warley,  who  in  the  ram  Manassas  had  taken  a  dis- 
tinguished part  in  opposing  the  passage  of  Farragut's 
ships  at  New  Orleans.  Every  precaution  had  been 
taken  by  the  Confederates  to  prevent  the  Albemarle 
from  being  blown  up  by  torpedoes.  She  was  moored 
to  the  wharf  at  Plymouth,  where  a  thousand  soldiers 
remained  on  guard,  and  a  double  line  of  sentries  was 
stationed  along  the  river.  Her  crew,  now  reduced  to 
sixty  men,  was  extremely  vigilant.  As  an  additional 
protection,  cypress  logs  connected  by  chains  and 
boomed  off  some  distance  from  her  hull  made  it  im- 
possible for  a  torpedo  boat  to  approach  within  striking 
distance.  At  this  point  the  river  is  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  wide,  and  a  gun  was  kept  constantly 
loaded  and  trained,  so  as  to  sweep  the  bend  around 
which  an  attacking  party  must  come. 

After  several  days  spent  in  final  preparations,  the 
picket  boat,  in  tow  of  the  Otsego,  was  taken  near  the 
mouth  of  Roanoke  River.  On  the  night  of  October 
26th  Gushing  went  up  the  stream  under  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, but  before  he  had  proceeded  far  he  ran 
aground,  and  before  he  could  get  afloat  again  it  was 
too  late  to  carry  out  his  plans,  and  he  returned  to  the 
Otsego.  The  night  of  October  27th  came  on  dark  and 
stormy,  and  about  midnight  Cushing  again  set  out, 
having  in  tow  a  small  cutter,  for  the  purpose  of  captur- 
ing the  Confederate  guard  in  a  schooner  anchored  near 
the  Southfield  and  preventing  them  from  sending  up 


486  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864. 

an  alarm  rocket.  Cashing  had  with  him  in  the  picket 
boat  Acting-Ensign  William  L.  Howarth,  Acting-Mas- 
ter's-Mates  Thomas  S.  Gay  and  John  Woodman,  Act- 
ing-Assistant-Paymaster Francis  H.  Swan,  Acting- 
Third-Assistant-Engineers  Charles  L.  Steever  and  Wil- 
liam Stotesbury,  and  eight  men  :  Samuel  Higgins,  first 
class  fireman  ;  Richard  Hamilton,  coal-heaver ;  Wil- 
liam Smith,  Bernard  Harley,  Edward  J.  Hough  ton,  or- 
dinary seamen  ;  Lorenzo  Deming,  Henry  Wilkes  and 
Robert  H.  King,  landsmen.  Cushing  took  his  station 
in  the  stern.  On  his  right  was  the  imperturbable 
Howarth,  and  next  to  Howarth  was  Woodman,  who 
was  familiar  with  the  river.  Behind  Cushing  and  a 
little  to  his  right  was  Swan.  The  engineer  and  fire- 
men were  at  their  usual  stations,  while  forward  on  the 
deck  beside  the  howitzer  was  Gay.  The  plan  of  attack 
was  to  land  a  short  distance  below  the  ram  and  board 
her  from  the  wharf,  carry  her  by  surprise  and  take 
her  downstream.  If  unable  to  do  this,  Cushing  deter- 
mined to  blow  her  up. 

The  night  was  dark,  with  occasional  squalls  of 
rain.  Creeping  cautiously  up  the  river,  the  launch 
hugged  the  shore  as  closely  as  possible,  so  as  to  avail 
herself  of  the  shadows  of  the  trees  for  concealment. 
As  the  adventurers  began  to  draw  near  the  object  of 
the  expedition  strict  silence  was  observed,  even  the 
most  necessary  orders  being  given  in  a  whisper,  and 
the  speed  of  the  launch  was  reduced  so  as  to  lessen 
the  chances  of  the  sound  of  machinery  or  the  churning 
of  the  screw  being  heard  by  the  pickets  who  were 
known  to  be  guarding  each  shore.  Onward  glided  the 
phantom  boat  in  sepulchral  silence.  The  rippling  of 
the  dainty  waves  against  her  bow,  parting  in  graceful, 
slanting  lines  and  lapping  the  banks,  was  scarcely 
heard  in  the  stillness  of  the  night. 

About  2.30  A.  M.  they  were  a  mile  below  Plymouth, 
when  the  dark  outlines  of  the  wrecked  Soutlifield 
(which  the  Confederates  had  attempted  to  raise),  with 


1864.  THE  ALARM  GIVEN.  437 

her  hurricane  deck  out  of  water,  began  to  assume 
shape,  standing  out  ghostly  and  forbidding,  as  if  a 
warning  of  what  might  be  the  fate  of  the  audacious 
launch.  Twenty-five  Confederate  soldiers  had  been 
stationed  under  a  lieutenant  in  a  schooner  anchored 
near  the  wreck  with  a  fieldpiece  and  a  rocket.  As  the 
picket  boat  passed  within  thirty  yards  of  the  South- 
field  the  men  nerved  themselves  in  readiness  to  board 
in  case  of  discovery.  But  they  were  not  challenged, 
although  the  outlines  of  the  wrecked  steamer  were 
perfectly  distinct,  and  the  launch  must  have  been  visi- 
ble from  the  shore.  The  guards  were  drowsy.  En- 
couraged by  this  success,  Gushing  determined  to  land 
near  the  wharf,  take  the  Albemarle  by  surprise,  cut  her 
moorings,  and  bring  her  into  the  sound. 

Passing  the  SoutJifield  with  this  object  in  view,  the 
two  boats  rounded  the  bend  of  the  river,  which  was 
commanded  by  the  cannon,  and  came  in  full  view  of 
the  town.  At  this  place  the  Confederates  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  keeping  fires  all  night,  in  order  to  discover 
the  approach  of  an  enemy,  but  on  this  occasion  the 
fires  had  been  allowed  to  go  almost  out,  so  that  only  a 
faint  glimmer  fell  over  the  river.  Avoiding  this  light 
as  much  as  possible,  dishing  crept  stealthily  toward 
the  shore,  intending  to  land. 

The  dark,  gloomy  outlines  of  the  ram  could  now  be 
distinctly  seen  at  the  wharf  like  some  huge  leviathan 
asleep.  At  this  moment,  when  the  adventurers  began 
to  hope  that  the  surprise  would  be  complete,  a  dog  on 
shore  began  a  furious  barking  and  aroused  the  sentry. 
Quickly  discovering  the  strange  boats,  the  sentinels 
challenged,  but  no  answer  was  given.  Another  chal- 
lenge came,  quickly  followed  by  the  sharp  crack  of  a 
musket.  In  an  instant  the  midnight  quiet  was  changed 
into  a  hubbub  of  wild  excitement.  Other  dogs  joined 
in  the  barking,  sentinels  suddenly  loomed  up  on  both 
sides  of  the  river,  alarm  rattles  were  sprung  and  bells 
were  jangled,  where  but  a  moment  before  all  had  been 


488  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864. 

profound  silence.  Fuel  was  immediately  heaped  on 
the  smoldering  tires,  which  soon  illuminated  the  river 
for  miles.  Soldiers,  hastily  aroused  from  sleep,  were 
seizing  arms  and  rushing  to  their  quarters,  while  the 
harsh  cries  of  the  officers  could  be  heard. 

Knowing  that  it  was  useless  to  maintain  further  se- 
crecy, Gushing  shouted  out,  "Ahead  fast ! "  at  the  same 
time  cutting  the  tow  line,  and  ordering  the  cutter  to  go 
down  the  river  and  capture  the  picket  guard  near  the 
Southfield.  The  launch  was  now  going  through  the 
water  at  full  speed.  Coming  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  ram,  Gushing  discovered  for  the  first  time  that 
it  was  protected  by  a  cordon  of  timber.  Believing  that 
the  logs  had  been  in  the  water  long  enough  to  become 
slimy,  he  sheered  off  one  hundred  yards  so  as  to  gather 
headway.  Making  a  broad  sweep  out  on  the  river,  he 
attained  the  desired  position,  and  then  came  down  at 
full  speed,  hoping  to  slip  over  the  logs  and  get  within 
the  barricades,  where  he  could  use  his  torpedo.  As 
the  launch  cam,e  down  a  volley  greeted  her,  filling  the 
back  of  Cushing's  coat  with  buckshot  and  tearing  off 
the  sole  of  his  shoe,  while  the  ominous  snapping  of  the 
primers  of  the  Confederate  cannon  showed  that  the 
great  guns  had  missed  fire.  Paymaster  Swan  was 
slightly  wounded,  but  no  one  was  seriously  injured. 

As  the  launch  approached  the  Albemarle,  Gushing 
called  out :  "Leave  the  ram  !  We're  going  to  blow  you 
up  ! "  Others  of  the  party  gave  the  Confederates  simi- 
lar advice,  more  with  a  view  of  inducing  them  to  leave 
the  vessel,  however,  than  from  any  philanthropic  mo- 
tive of  sparing  lives  other  than  their  own.  Just  then 
the  launch  fired  her  howitzer.  Passing  over  the  logs 
she  approached  the  side  of  the  ram  where  her  men 
found  themselves  looking  down  the  yawning  muzzle  of 
a  cannon  not  ten  feet  away. 

At  this  moment  Gushing  lowered  the  torpedo  spar, 
and  when  assured  that  it  was  well  under  the  ram's 
overhang  he  detached  it  with  a  vigorous  pull.  The 


1864.  CUSHING'S  DARING  EXPLOIT.  489 

torpedo  slowly  rose,  and  when  he  felt  it  touch  the 
Albemarle's  bottom  he  pulled  the  trigger  line.  A  dull, 
muffled  explosion  was  heard,  a  column  of  water  shot 
upward,  the  ram  careened  and  "a  hole  in  her  bottom 
big  enough  to  drive  a  wagon  in"  was  made.1  The  tor- 
pedo had  been  exploded  none  too  soon,  for  almost  at 
the  same  instant  the  Confederates  fired  a  rifled  gun 
loaded  with  100  pounds  of  canister,  the  muzzle  of  the 
gun  being  only  a  few  feet  from  the  adventurers.  The 
report  was  terrific.  It  seemed  as  if  the  launch  had 
been  blown  to  pieces,  but  fortunately  the  explosion  of 
the  torpedo  a  fraction  of  a  second  before  the  gun  was 
fired  destroyed  the  aim  of  the  gunners.  Had  there 
been  a  second's  delay  in  exploding  the  torpedo  the 
entire  boat's  company  would  have  been  blown  into 
eternity  ;  but  everything  had  been  arranged  under  the 
immediate  supervision  of  Gushing,  and  the  programme 
had  been  carried  out  to  the  letter  without  the  slightest 
hitch  or  delay. 

The  Confederates  twice  called  on  the  party  to  sur- 
render, and  several  of  the  men  did  so ;  but  Gushing, 
having  accomplished  his  purpose,  called  on  every  man 
to  save  himself,  and,  taking  off  his  sword,  revolver, 
shoes  and  coat,  he  jumped  into  the  river  and  boldly 
struck  off  downstream.  After  swimming  half  a  mile 
he  met  Woodman,  who  was  almost  exhausted,  and 
helped  him  along  a  short  distance,  when  Gushing  also 
became  exhausted.  Being  unable  to  get  to  shore, 
Woodman  was  drowned,  and  it  was  only  with  great 
difficulty  that  Gushing  managed  to  reach  the  bank. 
At  daylight  he  hid  himself  in  a  swamp  near  the  fort. 
Meeting  a  negro,  from  whom  he  learned  that  the  Albe- 
marle  had  sunk,  Gushing,  on  the  following  night,  es- 
caped down  the  river,  and  securing  a  skiff  rejoined 
the  squadron,  almost  dead  with  exhaustion  and  ex- 
posure. Samuel  Higgins,  the  fireman,  was  drowned. 


Report  of  the  Albemarle's  carpen 


tor. 


490  THE  RAM  ALBEMARLE.  1864. 

The  others  surrendered,  and  were  taken  ashore  in 
boats. 

For  this  brilliant  service  Gushing  received  a  vote  of 
thanks  from  Congress  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-commander.  In  many  respects  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Albemarle  was  similar  to  Stephen  Decatur's 
destruction  of  the  frigate  Philadelphia  in  the  harbor  of 
Tripoli  in  1804.  Lord  Nelson  at  that  time  declared  it 
to  be  "the  most  heroic  act  of  the  age"  ;  while  Captain 
Warley,  of  the  Albemarle,  generously  admitted  that 
"a  more  gallant  thing  was  not  done  during  the  war." 
The  Albemarle  was  raised  and  taken  to  Norfolk,  where 
in  1867  she  was  stripped  and  sold. 

Learning  that  the  Albemarle  was  destroyed,  Com- 
mander W.  H.  Macomb,  on  October  30th,  attempted  to 
reach  Plymouth  with  his  flotilla,  but  the  Confederates 
had  effectually  blocked  the  channel  by  sinking  the 
guard  schooner  near  the  wreck  of  the  Southfield.  On 
October  31st  he  passed  into  Roanoke  River  by  Middle 
River,  and  engaged  the  Confederate  batteries  in  a  spir- 
ited cannon  fire  at  comparatively  short  range,  and  for 
over  an  hour  dropped  shells  in  and  around  the  Confed- 
erate works.  Finally  one  shell  exploded  the  enemy's 
magazine,  upon  which  the  Confederates  retreated.  The 
vessels  engaged  were  the  double- enders  Shamrock 
(flagship),  Lieutenant  Ruf  us  K.  Duer  ;  Otsego,  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander H.  N.  T.  Arnold  ;  Wyalusing,  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Earl  English ;  Tacony,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  W.  T.  Truxtun  ;  the  gunboats  Commodore 
Hull,  Acting-Master  Francis  Josselyn,  and  Whitehead, 
Acting-Master  Gr.  W.  Barrett ;  and  the  tugs  Belle,  Act- 
ing-Master James  Gr.  Green,  and  Bazley,  Acting- Master 
Mark  D.  Ames.  The  National  loss  in  this  affair  was 
six  killed  and  nine  wounded.  Afterward  the  Otsego 
and  the  Bazley  were  sunk  by  torpedoes. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

ATLANTIC    AND    GULF    COASTS. 

THE  brilliant  victories  of  Stringham,  Dupont  and 
Farragut  at  Hatteras,  Port  Royal  and  New  Orleans 
early  in  the  war  compelled  the  Confederates  to  aban- 
don many  of  their  strongholds  on  the  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  coasts  and  to  concentrate  their  energies  on  a  few 
important  ports.  This  resulted  in  the  extraordinary 
strength  of  Mobile  on  the  Gulf  and  Savannah,  Charleston 
and  AVilmington  on  the  Atlantic.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  war  the  Government  endeavored  to  maintain  a 
vigorous  blockade  on  the  southern  coast,  a  distance  of 
about  three  thousand  miles.  In  many  places  the  coast 
line  was  doubled  and  penetrated  by  innumerable  inlets 
and  intricate  channels  that  gave  great  facilities  to  the 
blockade-runner,  the  South  Atlantic  squadron  alone 
having  more  than  twenty  gmall  inlets  to  guard.  One 
of  the  most  important  objects  of  the  blockade  was  the 
interruption  of  commerce  between  the  seceding  States 
and  Europe.  The  States  of  the  Confederacy,  being 
largely  agricultural,  had  always  been  dependent  on  the 
outside  world  for  manufactured  articles,  and  as  they 
had  little  floating  capital  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
realize  on  their  crops. 

Ever  since  Admiral  Warren,  in  1813,  issued  his  proc- 
lamation declaring  the  United  States  to  be  in  a  state 
of  blockade,  it  has  been  acknowledged  that  a  blockade 
to  be  binding  must  be  effective ;  and  when  President 
Lincoln,  six  days  after  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter, 
declared  the  Southern  States  to  be  blockaded,  he  un- 
dertook a  task  that  called  for  all  the  maritime  re- 

491 


492  ATLANTIC  AND  GULP  COASTS.  1861-1862. 

sources  of  the  North.  Four  neutral  ports  near  the 
coast  of  the  Confederacy  speedily  became  headquarters 
of  the  blockade-runners.  They  were  Matamoras  in 
Mexico  on  the  Rio  Grande,  Nassau  in  the  Bahamas, 
Havana  and  Bermuda.  These  places,  excepting  Ha- 
vana, were  insignificant  towns  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  when  they  suddenly  sprang  into  prominence. 

At  first  the  blockade  was  irregular  and  imperfect, 
but  as  the  squadrons  were  increased  from  time  to  time 
it  was  vigorously  maintained.  The  Atlantic  squadron 
was  divided  into  the  North  and  South  Atlantic  block- 
ading squadrons,  the  former  being  directed  against  the 
coast  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  while  the  latter 
cruised  from  the  northern  coast  of  South  Carolina  to 
Florida.  On  September  23d,  Flag-Officer  Goldsborough 
assumed  command  of  the  North  Atlantic  blockading 
squadron,  and  on  October  29th  Flag-Officer  Dupont 
commanded  the  South  Atlantic  blockading  squadron. 
That  the  blockade  was  rigorously  and  effectively  main- 
tained will  be  seen  from  the  number  of  prizes  taken  or 
destroyed.  At  Wilmington,  sixty-five  blockade-run- 
ners were  intercepted,  while  the  total  number  of  prizes 
made  during  the  war  was  fifteen  hundred  and  four,  of 
which  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  were  destroyed,  and 
the  others,  valued  at  thirty-two  million  dollars,  were 
brought  into  port.  Early  in  March,  1862,  Flag-Officer 
Dupont  occupied  Fernandina  and  St.  Augustine,  Fla., 
with  little  opposition.  Commander  Christopher  Ray- 
mond Perry  Rodgers  hastened  up  the  river  with  the 
Ottawa  and  the  steam  launches  and  captured  St.  Mary's. 
Acting- Lieutenant  Thomas  A.  Budd  and  Acting-Master 
S.  W.  Mather,  commanders  of  the  Union  steamers  Pen- 
guin and  Henry  Andrew,  while  examining  an  aban- 
doned earthwork  near  Mosquito  inlet,  March  22d,  were 
fired  upon  from  an  ambush  and  killed.  Three  of  the 
crew  were  killed  and  two  were  wounded  and  taken 
prisoners.  Fort  Clinch  and  Brunswick  were  occupied. 

While   a  boat's  crew  from   the    PocaJiontas    was 


1862.  PORT  ROYAL  ISLAND.  493 

ashore,  February  11,  1862,  to  procure  fresh  beef  near 
Brunswick,  it  was  fired  upon  by  forty  Confederate  sol- 
diers in  ambush  and  two  of  the  crew  were  killed  and 
six  wounded.  Assistant-Surgeon  Archibald  C.  Rhoades 
refused  a  summons  to  surrender,  and  by  the  aid  of  Pay- 
master Kitchen  regained  the  vessel  with  the  rest  of  the 
crew. 

On  April  10th,  Commander  Rodgers,  with  Lieuten- 
ant John  Irwin,  Acting-Master  Robertson,  Acting- 
Midshipmen  Mortimer  L.  Johnson  ancj  Frederick  Pear- 
son, Captain  of  Forecastle  Lewis  A.  Brown,  Quarter- 
master George  H.  Wood  and  a  detachment  of  seamen 
from  the  Wabash,  landed  on  Tybee  Island  with  three 
30-pounder  Parrott  guns  and  one  24-poimder,  and  as- 
sisted the  army  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Pulaski. 

Although  Hatteras  and  Port  Royal  had  been  cap- 
tured, the  Confederates  were  constantly  on  the  watch 
for  an  opportunity  to  retake  these  posts.  To  guard 
against  this  danger  Dupont  kept  his  gunboats  and 
launches  constantly  engaged  in  patroling  the  intri- 
cate water-ways  and  sounds  that  girded  the  Southern 
coast.  This  service  was  attended  with  much  hardship 
and  exposure.  The  first  move  of  the  Confederates 
after  losing  Port  Royal  was  to  cut  off  that  place  from 
inland  communications,  by  placing  obstructions  in  the 
Coosaw  River  and  Whale  Branch  and  by  erecting  bat- 
teries at  Port  Royal  Ferry  and  near  Seabrook.  This 
they  believed  would  prevent  the  gunboats  from  ascend- 
ing those  streams,  and  would  enable  them  to  throw  a 
large  force  upon  Port  Royal  Island  and  capture  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers  holding  Beaufort.  Commander  Rodg- 
ers was  directed  to  co-operate  with  the  troops  under 
General  Stevens  in  an  attack  on  these  works  with  the 
following  vessels :  the  Ottawa,  Lieutenant  Thomas 
Holdup  Stevens  ;  the  Pembina,  Lieutenant  John  Pine 
Bankhead  ;  the  Seneca,  Lieutenant  Daniel  Ammen  ; 
the  armed  ferryboat  Ellen,  Acting-Lieutenant  Budd  ; 
and  the  tugboat  Hale,  Acting-Master  Foster.  Added 


494  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1861-1862. 

to  this  force  were  four  boats  from  the  WdbasTi,  each 
armed  with  a  howitzer,  uiider  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenants John  Henry  Upshur,  Stephen  Bleecker  Luce, 
John  Irwin  and  Acting-Master  Louis  Kempff.  In 
order  that  the  enemy  might  not  be  forewarned  of  the  > 
attack,  these  vessels  did  not  leave  Beaufort  until  dark, 
December  31,  1861.  Early  on  the  morning  of  Janu- 
ary 1,  1862,  the  troops  were  landed,  together  with  two 
howitzers  and  a  body  of  seamen  under  Lieutenant 
Irwin.  In  spite  of  every  precaution  the  Confederates 
had  learned  of  the  intended  expedition  and  were  pre- 
pared to  dispute  the  landing.  They  were  soon  put  to 
flight,  however,  by  a  fire  from  the  gunboats.  The  next 
morning  they  appeared  in  force  but  were  again  dis- 
persed. 

Captain  Charles  H.  Davis  got  under  way  for  a  re- 
connoissance  near  Savannah,  January  26,  1862,  with 
the  gunboats  Ottawa  and  Seneca,  and  the  steamers 
Isaac  Smith,  Lieutenant  James  William  Augustus 
Nicholson,  Potomska,  Lieutenant  Pendleton  Gaines 
Watmough,  Ellen,  Acting- Lieutenant  Budd,  Western 
World,  Acting- Master  Samuel  B.  Gregory,  two  armed 
launches  of  the  Wabash,  and  the  transports  Cosmo- 
politan, Delaware  and  Boston,  having  on  board  two 
thousand  four  hundred  troops  under  Brigadier-General 
Horatio  Governeur  Wright.  As  the  vessels  entered 
Little  Tybee  River  Fort  Pulaski  did  not  fire  on  them, 
as  it  had  no  guns  mounted  on  that  side.  Anchor- 
ing near  a  line  of  piles  beyond  Wilmington  Island, 
Captain  Davis  sent  out  boat  parties  to  explore  the 
creeks  and  inlets.  The  approach  of  the  expedition 
caused  great  excitement  at  Savannah.  At  five  o'clock 
in  the  evening  several  Confederate  steamers  came  in 
sight,  and  as  they  had  it  in  their  power  to  select  posi- 
tions and  give  battle  it  was  thought  that  an  engage- 
ment would  result.  At  11.16  the  next  morning  these 
steamers,  having  scows  in  tow,  passed  down  the  river 
and  opened  a  spirited  fire  on  the  Union  flotilla.  Three 


1862.  PATROLLING   SOUTHERN  WATERS.  495 

of  the  steamers  passed  down  to  Fort  Pulaski,  but  the 
other  two  were  driven  back. 

Acting-Master  William  I).  Urann,  of  the  Crusader, 
while  assisting  a  Government  agent  at  North  Edisto, 
was  severely  wounded  by  the  enemy.  At  three  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  April  19th  a  force  of  sixty  men 
reached  the  neighborhood  and  after  a  short  skirmish 
put  the  Confederates  to  flight.  In  this  affair  three  of 
our  seamen  were  wounded.  On  the  26th  of  April  the 
Wamsutta,  Lieutenant  Alexander  Aldebaran  Semmes, 
with  the  Potomska,  went  up  the  Riceborough  River  and 
at  Woodville  Island  was  fired  upon  with  musketry,  by 
which  two  men  were  killed.  The  Unionists  returned 
the  fire  and  soon  routed  the  enemy.  On  the  29th  of 
April,  while  a  boat  crew  from  the  Hale  was  destroying 
a  battery  at  the  junction  of  the  Dawho  and  South 
Edisto  Rivers,  the  Hale  was  fired  upon  by  a  Confeder- 
ate battery.  The  Unionists  returned  the  fire  and  routed 
the  enemy.  Twenty  men  then  landed  and  destroyed 
the  battery,  which  consisted  of  two  24-pounders.  Com- 
mander George  Aldrich  Prentiss  in  the  Albatross,  ac- 
companied by  the  Norwich,  made  a  reconnoissance  at 
Georgetown,  S.  C.,  on  May  21st.  On  the  following  day 
while  they  were  passing  the  town  a  woman  appeared 
in  the  belfry  of  the  church  and  displayed  the  Confeder- 
ate flag.  The  Union  vessel  did  not  notice  the  incident, 
as,  said  Commander  Prentiss,  "a  contest  in  the  streets 
would  have  compelled  me  to  destroy  the  city." 

Commander  Charles  Steedman  in  the  Port  Royal, 
with  the  armed  steamer  Darlington,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Williams,  and  the  Hale,  Lieutenant  Alfred  T. 
Snell,  on  the  5th  of  October  attacked  some  batteries  the 
enemy  had  erected  on  St.  John's  Bluff,  about  seven 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  St.  John's  River.  The  Con- 
federates were  quickly  driven  from  their  works  and  the 
guns  were  seized.  The  steamer  Morton  was  also  cap- 
tured farther  up  the  river.  In  the  latter  part  of  No- 
vember, 1862,  the  Albatross,  Lieutenant  Commander 


496  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1862. 

John  E.  Hart,  destroyed  extensive  salt  works  at  St. 
Andrew's  Bay,  Florida. 

In  the  summer  of  1862  Farragut  sent  several  light 
squadrons  to  cruise  along  the  coast  of  Texas.  One  of 
these,  under  the  command  of  Acting- Volunteer-Lieu- 
tenant John  W.  Kittredge,  captured  Corpus  Christi; 
another,  under  Commander  William  Bainbridge  Ren- 
shaw,  took  Galveston  ;  and  a  third,  consisting  of  the 
light  gunboats  Kensington,  Acting- Master  Crocker,  and 
Rachel  Seaman,  Acting-Master  Quincey  A.  Hooper, 
and  a  launch  with  the  mortar  schooner  Henry  Janes, 
was  sent  to  Sabine  Pass.  On  August  12th  the  yacht 
Corypheus,  armed  with  a  30-pounder  Parrott  gun, 
with  the  Elmer,  chased  several  Confederate  vessels 
ashore  near  Corpus  Christi.  Four  days  later  a  squad- 
ron consisting  of  the  Corypheus.  the  Sachem  and  the 
schooner  Reindeer  was  fired  upon  by  a  battery  and 
the  Sachem  was  injured,  while  the  magazine  of  the 
Corypheus  exploded.  After  silencing  the  battery  the 
vessels  retired  out  of  range,  but  on  the  following  day 
Kittredge  gallantly  came  into  action  again.  Thirty 
men  with  a  12-pounder  howitzer  were  landed  and  by 
the  aid  of  the  cruisers  succeeded  in  repelling  an  attack 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  infantry  and  afterward  a 
charge  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  cavalry.  Seeing  that 
it  was  impossible  to  hold  the  town  without  troops,  Kit- 
tredge retired,  shortly  after  which  he  and  seven  men 
were  surprised  and  made  prisoners. 

The  vessels  ordered  to  Sabine  Pass  opened  fire  on 
the  fort  defending  that  place  September  24th.  It 
mounted  four  32-pounders,  while  the  vessels  could 
use  only  a  20-pounder  rifled  gun  and  two  32-pounders. 
The  Confederates  responded  briskly,  but  during  the 
night  they  retired. 

At  half  past  one  o'clock  New  Year's  morning,  18G3, 
the  Confederate  cotton-protected  steamers  Bayou  City 
(carrying  a  68-pounder  gun  and  two  hundred  soldiers) 
and  Neptune  (armed  with  two  small  howitzers  and 


1363.  A  REVERSE  AT  GALVESTON.  497 

carrying  one  hundred  and  sixty  men)  made  an  attack 
on  the  Union  squadron  off  Galveston,  which  at  that 
time  consisted  of  the  gunboats  Westfield,  Harriet 
Lane,  Clifton,  Owasco,  Sachem  and  Corypheus.  At 
the  same  time  Confederate  troops  made  an  attack  on 
the  Union  garrison,  which  was  quartered  on  a  wharf. 
The  Sachem  and  the  Corypheus  took  a  position  close 
inshore  to  assist  the  troops.  About  daylight  the  Har- 
riet Lane,  Commander  Jonathan  May  hew  Wainwright, 
approached  the  Confederate  steamers,  opening  fire  with 
•  her  bow  gun.  The  Bayou  City  replied  with  her  68- 
pounder,  but  at  the  third  discharge  it  burst.  Wain- 
wright rammed  the  Bayou  City  and  carried  away  her 
wheel-guard,  at  the  same  time  pouring  in  a  broadside. 
The  Neptune  rammed  the  National  gunboat,  but  was 
so  injured  by  the  collision  that  she  hauled  off  and  sank 
near  the  scene  of  action.  As  her  upper  deck  remained 
above  water  the  troops  were  still  able  to  fire  on  the 
Union  vessel.  Running  alongside  and  making  fast,  the 
soldiers  in  the  Bayou  City  poured  volley  after  volley 
into  the  Harriet  Lane,  mortally  wounding  Wainwright 
and  Lieutenant-Commander  Edward  Lea,  together  with 
several  of  the  men,  upon  which  the  vessel  surren- 
dered. At  the  time  of  the  attack  the  Westfield  was 
aground  at  another  entrance  to  the  bay,  and  the  Clif- 
ton went  to  her  assistance.  Finding  he  could  not  get 
his  vessel  afloat,  Commander  Renshaw  blew  her  up, 
but  in  doing  so  he,  with  Lieutenant  Charles  W.  Zim- 
merman, Acting-Second- Assistant-Engineer  William  R. 
Greene  and  about  thirreen  of  the  crew,  was  killed. 
The  surviving  senior  officer  of  the  National  squadron, 
Lieutenant-Commander  Law,  of  the  Clifton,  believing 
that  none  of  his  vessels  could  cope  with  the  Harriet 
Lane,  retired  and  raised  the  blockade. 

The  occupation  of  Mexico  by  the  French,  June  10, 
1863,  and  the  efforts  of  the  French  agents  to  detach 
Texas  from  both  the  United  States  and  the  Confederacy, 
made  it  desirable  to  have  a  demonstration  in  that  quar- 

77 


498  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1863. 

ter,  and  on  September  5th  Major-General  Franklin 
with  four  thousand  National  troops  sailed  from  New 
Orleans  for  Sabine  Pass,  accompanied  by  the  gunboats 
Clifton,  Sachem,  Arizona  and  Granite  City,  under  the 
command  of  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  Frederick 
Crocker.  Crossing  the  bar  at  Sabine  Pass  September 
8th,  the  gunboats,  at  3.30  P.  M.,  opened  as  heavy  a  fire 
as  their  light  armaments  would  permit,  but  in  half  an 
hour  a  shot  pierced  the  Sachem?  s  boiler,  and  shortly 
afterward  the  Clifton  grounded  and  also  received  a  shot 
in  her  boiler.  Both  vessels  maintained  a  spirited  fire- 
to  the  last,  but  in  thirty  minutes  they  were  compelled 
to  surrender,  upon  which  the  expedition  was  aban- 
doned. The  Clifton  had  ten  killed  and  nine  wounded, 
and  the  Sachem  seven  killed  and  a  number  injured. 
Thirty-nine  men  were  reported  missing.  The  sailing 
vessel  Morning  Light  and  the  schooner  Velocity  also 
were  captured  off  Sabine  Pass. 

Repelled  at  Sabine  Pass,  the  Nationalists  next  or- 
ganized an  expedition  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
landing  near  the  Rio  Grande,  and  on  October  26th 
three  thousand  five  hundred  soldiers  under  Generals 
Banks  and  Dana  sailed  from  New  Orleans  under  con- 
voy of  the  MonongaJiela,  Commander  James  Hooker 
Strong,  the  Owasco  and  the  Virginia.  On  November 
2d  they  effected  a  landing  on  Brazos  Island,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Leaving  a  garrison  at 
Brownsville,  the  expedition  cruised  along  the  coast  to 
Corpus  Christi,  on  Mustang  Island,  where  troops  were 
landed  and  captured  a  3-gun  battery.  Matagorda  Bay 
also  was  taken  without  serious  opposition. 

The  naval  operations  in  the  Chesapeake  and  ad- 
joining waters  were  closed  with  a  number  of  spirited 
actions.  On  April  19,  1863,  a  flotilla  consisting  of  eight 
small  gunboats,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Ros- 
well  H.  Lamson,  assisted  three  hundred  men  under 
General  Getty  in  capturing  a  battery  at  Hill's  Point, 
while  on  the  22d  Lieutenant  William  Barker  Cushing 


1863-1865.  IN   VIRGINIA   WATERS. 


499 


led  a  successful  land  expedition  to  Chuckatuck.  While 
engaged  in  a  reconnoissance  up  the  James  River,  Au- 
gust 4th,  the  ferryboat  Commodore  Barney  was  se- 
riously injured  by  a  torpedo.  On  the  following  morn- 
ing the  monitor  Sangamori,  the  Commodore  Barney 
and  the  small  steamer  Cohasset,  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Guert  Gansevoort,  had  two  indecisive  en- 
gagements with  masked  batteries,  in  one  of  which  the 
Commodore  Barney  had  a  shot  through  her  boiler. 
The  National  loss  was  three  killed  and  three  wounded. 
While  exploring  Four  Mile  Creek,  May  6,  1864,  the 
little  gunboat  Commodore  Jones  was  blown  up  by  a 
torpedo  and  half  of  her  people  were  killed  or  wounded, 
I  and  two  days  later  the  Shawsheen  was  destroyed  by  a 
shore  battery. 

The  torpedo  that  destroyed  the  Commodore  Jones 
was  an  electric  mine,  and  marks  a  new  eia  in  this  de- 
partment of  naval  warfare.  In  the  autumn  of  1862 
the  Confederates  organized  an  electrical  torpedo  de- 
partment, placing  at  the  head  of  it  Lieutenant  Hunter 
Davidson,  who  commanded  the  forward  division  of 
guns  in  the  Merrimac  in  her  action  with  the  Monitor, 
March  9,  1862.  It  is  instructive  to  note,  in  the  light  of 
the  present  developments,  the  objections  that  were 
raised  against  this  "uncivilized  and  illegitimate" 
method  of  warfare,  not  only  by  the  Nationalists  but 
by  the  Confederates  themselves.  Hunter  Davidson 
says  :  "  One  of  the  Northern  commanders  sent  word  to 
me  that  I  was  not  engaged  in  civilized  or  legitimate 
warfare,  and  that  he  would  not  respect  a  flag  of  truce 
if  I  came  with  it,  which  amused  me  very  much  at  the 
time,  in  view  of  General  Grant's  explosion  of  the  mine 
at  Petersburg.  .  .  .  Papers  were  picked  up  on  the 
banks  of  the  James  River  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Commodore  Jones  offering  a  reward  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  for  my  head,  but  I  never  believed 
this  was  done  with  any  other  motive  than  to  intimi- 
date. My  own  brother  naval  officers  used  to  look  at 


500  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1863. 

me  at  times  with  expressions  of  pity  and  even  con- 
tempt, and  the  Confederate  States  navy  chief  of  ord- 
nance told  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that  it  was  '  abom- 
inable that  the  labor  and  resources  of  the  country  should 
be  wasted  in  such  nonsense.'"1 

In  spite  of  opposition  from  within  and  without  the 
Confederates  pushed  their  torpedo  work  with  remark- 
able success,  considering  their  lack  of  skilled  mechan- 
ics, materials  and  machinery,  it  being  necessary  to 
send  to  Europe  or  North  for  the  insulated  wires  for 
the  electric  torpedoes.  The  destruction  of  the  Commo- 
dore Jones  was  caused  by  a  torpedo  mine  containing 
eighteen  hundred  pounds  of  sporting  powder  and 
placed  in  six  fathoms  of  water.  It  was  ignited  under 
the  personal  direction  of  Hunter  Davidson,  who  says : 
"  The  explosion  was  effected  at  midday,  when  the  gun- 
boat was  accompanied  by  a  powerful  fleet.  In  the 
fleet  was  a  servant  of  mine,  a  negro  boy,  who  warned 
the  officers  that  they  were  on  dangerous  ground.  I 
was  aware  that  the  negro  had  deserted  in  the  direction 
of  the  fleet,  and  for  that  reason  had  wires  leading  to 
the  batteries  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  believing  that 
if  the  Nationalists  cut  the  wires  on  the  high  left  bank 
they  would  be  content  with  that  and  proceed,  not  sup- 
posing that  there  was  a  battery  with  mines  on  the 
other  side  also,  which  was  a  swamp. 

"My  surmise  was  somewhat  correct,  for  had 
battery  station  on  the  left  bank  been  occupied  we 
should  have  been  discovered,  as  at  one  time  the  Com- 
modore Jones  was  high  enough  upstream  to  have 
looked  into  the  station.  She  could  have  been  de- 
stroyed sooner,  but  we  were  waiting  for  an  ironclad. 
The  orders  given  on  board  were  distinctly  heard  by  us, 
and  it  was  in  consequence  of  certain  orders  that  the 
Commodore  Jones  was  destroyed  as  she  dropped  back 
and  over  the  mine.  .  .  .  Many  valuable  articles  from 

1  Hunter  Davidson  to  the  author. 


1863-18G5.  TORPEDO  WARFARE.  501 

the  wreck  were  picked  up,  especially  official  correspond- 
ence of  importance  to  the  Confederate  Government. 
The  captain's  trunk,  private  correspondence,  Bible,  etc., 
were  carefully  packed  up  and  sent  at  once  to  Major 
Mnlford,  of  the  United  States  flag  of  truce  steamer." 

Mr.  Davidson  also  succeeded  in  exploding  a  fifty 
pound  torpedo  under  the  frigate  Minnesota,  near 
where  a  great  quantity  of  shot  and  shell  were  stored 
in  her  hold  ready  for  transportation  southward.  Mr. 
Davidson  says:  "The  torpedo  was  too  small.  I 
thought  so  at  the  time.  I  could  not  get  a  larger 
steamer  suitable  for  the  purpose,  and  the  one  I  used 
would  not  manoeuvre  with  a  larger  torpedo  down  in  an 
ordinary  seaway  in  such  open  waters  as  the  mouth  of 
the  James.  ...  It  must  be  considered  that  I  had  to 
explode  my  torpedo  against  perpendicular  sides.  .  .  . 
As  to  being  drawn  into  the  hole  in  case  I  had  made 
one  in  the  side  of  the  Minnesota,  I  had  provided 
for  that  by  previous  practice  of  direct  ramming  at  an 
angle,  always  stopping  the  engine  before  striking,  and 
instructing  the  engineer  to  go  full  speed  astern  as  soon 
as  he  felt  the  blow,  without  waiting  for  orders. 

"  My  torpedo  struck  the  side  of  the  Minnesota  and 
exploded  in  just  about  one  second  after  contact— an 
excellent  result  for  the  fuse  of  that  day.  The  pole 
was  shattered  to  pieces  and  the  little  steamer  driven 
back  forcibly.  When  she  backed  off  about  fifty  yards 
and  stopped  to  reverse  and  go  ahead,  her  single  cylinder 
engine  caught  'on  centre'  and  there  we  remained — it 
seemed  to  me  about  forty  years— under  the  fire  of  the 
Minnesota.  The  engineer,  Mr.  Wright,  one  of  the 
bravest  and  coolest  men  I  ever  knew,  got  the  engine 
free  again,  having  to  feel  for  the  different  parts  in  the 
dark.  The  little  steamer  was  peppered  all  over  with 
bullets,  several  passing  through  my  clothes,  but  we  got 
off  without  any  injury.  I  then  steered  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Norfolk  to  throw  pursuers  off  the  scent,  which 
proved  successful." 


502  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1883-186.-) 

Mr.  Davidson  adds :  "  Mr.  Mallory,  the  Secretary  oi 
the  Navy,  in  writing  me  after  the  war,  uses  these  words : 
'  The  destruction  of  the  Commodore  Jones,  the  leading 
vessel  of  Lee's  fleet,  which  was  ascending  the  James 
River  to  co-operate  with  General  Butler  in  the  attack 
on  Drewry's  Bluff,  by  causing  the  retirement  of  that 
fleet,  undoubtedly  caved  Drewry's  Bluff,  the  key  of* 
Richmond.'    And  in  the  same  letter  he  adds  :  '  I  always 
regarded  the  submarine  department  under  your  com-  * 
mand  as  equal  in  importance  to  any  division  of  the  i 
army.' 

"Admiral  Porter  states  that  the  man  who  fired  the 
torpedo  that  destroyed  the  Commodore  Jones  was  shot 
from  one  of  Lee's  boats.     This  is  a  mistake.     He  was 
still  living  in  1889.     The  man  shot  was  a  carpenter  of  < 
no  torpedo  importance." 

On  the  destruction  of  the  Merrimac,  or  Virginia, 
the  Confederates  set  about  building  other  ironclads  of  • 
the  same  type  in  the  James,  and  by  1864  they  had  com- 
pleted the  Fredericksburg,  the  Richmond  and  the  Vir- 
ginia No.  %,  the  last  being  the  most  formidable  of  all,    ' 
having  six  inches  of  armor  on  her  sides  and  eight  on   \ 
her  ends,  and  carrying  two  8-inch  and  six  6-inch  Brooke    : 
rifled  guns.     The  Nationalists  had  stationed  the  moni- 
tors Tecumseh,  Canonicus  and  Saugus,  the  turret  ship    ; 
Onondaga,  and  the  captured  ram  Atlanta  with  a  view 
of  meeting  the  Confederate  ironclads.     On  January  23,^ 
1865,  while  all  the  Union  ironclads,  except  the  Onon- 
daga, Commander  William  A.  Parker,  were  absent,  the 
enemy's  rams,  under  the  command  of  Commodore  John 
K.  Mitchell,  came  down  the  river,  but  the  Virginia 
No.  2  and  the  Richmond  ran  aground.     In  this  condi- 
tion they  were  subjected  to  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Union 
batteries  and  the  Onondaga,  and  when  floated  off  they 
retired  up  the  river. 

The  blockade  of  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  had  been  main- 
tained during  the  war  by  a  force  numbering  from 
thirty  to  forty  vessels,  yet  a  large  percentage  of  the 


1864.  FORT  FISHER. 


503 


blockade  runners  succeeded  in  getting  into  and  out  of 
the  harbor.  The  two  widely  separated  entrances  of 
the  port  afforded  the  Confederates  unusual  facilities  for 
eluding  the  vigilance  of  our  officers,  and  toward  the 
close  of  1864  it  was  decided  to  make  a  determined  at- 
tack upon  the  forts  guarding  the  place.  These  con- 
sisted of  Fort  Caswell,  guarding  the  southern  entrance 
of  Cape  Fear  River,  and  Fort  Fisher,  at  the  northern 
entrance.  The  latter  was  one  of  the  most  formidable 
earthworks  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  Every  art  of  engi- 
neering had  been  used  to  make  it  impregnable.  The 
parapets  were  twenty-five  feet  thick,  with  an  average 
height  of  twenty  feet,  while  the  traverses,  ten  feet 
higher,  were  ten  to  twelve  feet  thick.  The  fort  mounted 
forty-four  guns.  Its  commander  was  Colonel  William 
Lamb.  A  combined  navy  and  army  expedition  was 
projected  against  this  place  under  the  command  of 
Rear- Admiral  David  Dixon  Porter  and  General  Ben 
jamin  Franklin  Butler,  and  an  imposing  fleet  of  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  was  collected  in  Hamp- 
ton Roads. 

As  a  preliminary  blow,  the  old  steamer  Louisiana 
was  filled  with  powder,  which  was  to  be  exploded 
under  the  walls  of  the  fort.  Notwithstanding  the  fate 
of  Lieutenant  Somers  and  his  gallant  shipmates  in  the 
ketch  Intrepid,  which  was  blown  up  with  all  hands  in 
the  harbor  of  Tripoli  in  1804,  Commander  Alexander 
Colden  Rhind,  Lieutenant  Samuel  W.  Preston,  Sec- 
ond-Assistant-Engineer Anthony  T.  E.  Mullen  and 
Master's-Mate  Boyden,  with  seven  men,  volunteered 
for  service  in  this  floating  mine.  On  the  night  of  De- 
cember 23,  1864,  the  Louisiana,  in  tow  of  the  Wil- 
derness, Acting-Master  Arey,  having  the  Gettysburg, 
Lieutenant  Lamson,  in  company,  set  out  on  her  per- 
ilous mission.  She  was  towed  near  her  station  and 
guided  by  Mr.  Bradford,  of  the  Coast  Survey,  and  Mr. 
Bowen,  the  pilot.  At  11.30  P.  M.  the  Louisiana 
dropped  her  towline  and  steamed  boldly  toward  Fort 


504  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1^,4. 

Fisher.     When  four  hundred  yards  from  the  fort  the 
steamer  anchored  and  the  sailors  were  put  into  a  boat,  I 
while  Commander  Rhind  and  Lieutenant  Preston  pro- 
ceeded to  light  the  fuses,  which  had  been  arranged  by  | 
Engineer  Mullen.     These  officers  then  got  into  a  boat! 
and  reached  the  Wilderness  at  midnight.     The  vessel  j> 
then  steamed  out  to  sea  at  full  speed,  and  when  twelve 
miles  out  hove  to.     At  1.40  A.  M.  the  powder  blew  up,  | 
inflicting  little  or  no  injury  upon  the  enemy. 

At  daylight,  December  24th,  the  fleet  stood  in  to  j. 
begin  the  attack  on  Fort  Fisher.     The  signal  to  en-  ! 
gage  the  fort  was  given  at  11.30  A.  M.,  and  for  the  next  \ 
few  hours  one  of  the  most  stupendous  cannonades  in  j 
history  was  witnessed.     The  fort  seemed  to  be  literally   j 
covered  with  bursting  shells,  which   dug  tremendous  \ 
craters  in  the  parapets.     But  aside  from  exploding  two   J 
servipe  magazines  and  burning  several  buildings  the 
bombardment  did  no  material  injury,  and  at  sunset 
Porter  signaled  the  vessels  to  retire.     As  little  diffi-    i 
culty  was  found  in  silencing  the  guns  of  the  fort,  the 
National  vessels  were  scarcely  injured  by  the  enemy's 
shot.     The  Osceola  was  struck  by  a  shell,  which  came 
near  her  magazine  and  caused  a  serious  leak.     The 
Mackinaw's  boiler  was  exploded  by  a  shell,  but  she 
fought  the  battle  out.    The  principal  injuries  in  the 
Union  fleet  were  caused  by  the  bursting  of  guns,  most 
of  them  100- pounder  rifled  Parrott  guns.     In  this  way 
eight  men  were  killed   and  eleven  wounded  in  the 
Ticonderoga,  two  killed  and  three  wounded  in  the 
Yantic,  five  killed  and  eight  wounded  in  the  Juniata, 
one  killed  in  the  Mackinaw  and  one  wounded  in  the 
Quaker  City.    On  the  following  day,  December  25th, 
the  bombardment  was  renewed.     Seventeen  gunboats 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Oliver  S.  Glisson,  aided 
by  the  Brooklyn,  covered  the  landing  of  the  troops. 
About  three  thousand   men  were   landed,  but  on  a 
close  inspection  of  the  fort  General  Butler  deemed  it 
unadvisable  to  attack.    After  a  bombardment  of  seven 


1865.  FORT  FISHER.  505 

hours  the  fleet  retired  again,  and  the  attack  was  post- 
poned. In  these  affairs  the  fleet  lost  twenty  men 
killed  and  sixfy- three  wounded,  while  the  Confederate 
loss  was  six  killed  and  fifty-two  wounded.  Eight  of 
the  forty-four  guns  of  the  fort  were  rendered  unserv- 
iceable. 

A  second  expedition  against  Fort  Fisher  sailed  on 
January  12th,  and  on  January  13th  six  thousand  men 
were  landed,  General  Alfred  Howe  Terry  commanding 
the  troops.1  At  3.30  p.  M.  the  fleet  got  under  way  and 

1  The  vessels  engaged  in  the  expedition  were  the  Colorado,  Commodore 
Henry  Knox  Thatcher;  New  Ironsides,  Commodore  William  Itadford  ;  Min- 
nesota, Commodore  Joseph  Lanman  ;  Powhatan,  Commodore  James  Find- 
lay  Schenck;  Susquehanna,  Commodore  Sylvanus  William  Godon;  Santi- 
ago de  Cuba,  Captain  Oliver  S.  Glisson  ;  Wabash,  Captain  Melancton  Smith  ; 
Fort  Jackson,  Captain  Benjamin  Franklin  Sands;  Vanderbilt,  Captain 
Charles  W.  Pickering;  Shenandoah,C&\>\.&\n  Daniel  Boone  Ridgely;  Ti- 
conderoga,  Captain  Charles  Steedman;  Brooklyn,  Captain  James  Alden ; 
Tuscorara.  Commander  James  Madison  Frailey;  Monadnock,  Commander 
Enoch  Greenleaf  Parrott ;  Rhode  Island,  Commander  Stephen  Decatur 
Trenchard;  Nereu*,  Commander  John  Camming  Howell ;  Mohican,  Com- 
mander Daniel  Ammen;  losco,  Commander  John  Guest;  Pawtuxet,  Com- 
mander James  Hanna  Spotts ;  Osceola,  Commander  John  Mellen  Brady 
Clitz ;  Mackinaw,  Commander  John  C.  Beaumont;  Saugus,  Commander 
Edmund  R.  Colhoun;  Pontoosnc,  Commander  William  Grenville  Temple; 
R.  R.  Cuyhr,  Commander  Charles  Henry  Bromedge  Caldwell;  Juniata, 
Lieutenant-Commander  Thomas  Stowell  Phelps;  Yantic,  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Thomas  Cadwalader  Harris;  Chippewa,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Edward  Eells  Potter;  Sassacus,  Lieutenant-Commander  John 
Lee  Davis:  Tacony,  Lieutenant-Commander  Wiliara  Talbot  Truxtun ; 
Kansas,  Lieutenant-Commander  Pendleton  Gaines  Watmough;  Unadil- 
la,  Lieutenant-Commander  Francis  Munroe  Ramsay;  Maratanza,  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander George  W.  Young ;  Maumee,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Ralph  Chandler:  Pequot,  Lieutenant-Commander  Daniel  Lawrence  Braine ; 
Canonicus,  Lieutenant-Commander  George  Eugene  Belknap;  Mahopac, 
Lieutenant-Commander  Aaron  Ward  Weaver;  Huron,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Thomas  Oliver  Selfridge,  Jr.;  Seneca,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Montgomery  Sicard ;  Monticello,  Lieutenant  William  Barker  Gushing; 
Gettysburg,  Lieutenant  Roswell  H.  Lamson ;  Montgomery,  Acting- Volun- 
teer-Lieutenant Thomas  C.  Dunn.  The  reserve  division  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant-Commander  John  Henry  Upshur,  in  the  Frolic  (for- 
merly the  A.  D.  Fam*).  consisted  of  the  Britannia,  Acting-\  olunteer- 
Lieutenant  W.  B.  Sheldon;  the  Tristam  Shandy,  Acting-Volunteer-Lieu- 
tenant Francis  M.  Green ;  the  Lillian,  Acting-Volunteer-Lieutenant  T.  A. 


506  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  COASTS.  1865. 

began  the  bombardment.  Again  the  terrific  cannonad- 
ing of  December  24th  and  25th  was  exhibited.  As 
evening  came  on  the  fleet  retired,  but  the  ironclads 
maintained  a  desultory  fire  all  night.  The  bombard- 
ment was  renewed  on  the  14th.  In  the  evening  Gen- 
eral Terry  made  arrangements  with  Porter  for  a  com- 
bined naval  and  army  attack  on  the  morning  of  the 
15th.  Sixteen  hundred  sailors  and  four  hundred  ma- 
rines were  landed  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Kidder  Randolph  Breese  and  Lieutenant- 
Commander  James  Parker,  Lieutenant  -  Commander 
Upshur  covering  the  landing  with  the  light  gunboats. 
At  9  A.  M.,  January  15th,  the  vessels  opened  fire,  which 
they  kept  up  until  3  P.  M.,  when  they  ceased  in  order 
that  the  land  forces  might  rush  to  the  assault.  The 
attacking  column  of  the  army,  which  was  lying  con- 
cealed under  the  river  bank,  charged  the  left  flank  of 
the  fort,  wrhile  the  naval  column  came  up  on  the  open 
beach,  where  it  was  entirely  exposed.  Colonel  Lamb, 
commander  of  the  fort,  had  stationed  most  of  his  men 
to  sweep  the  approach  from  the  beach.  The  sailors 
were  divided  into  three  divisions,  Lieutenant  Cushman 
commanding  the  first,  Lieutenant-Commander  Parker 
the  second,  Lieutenant-Commander  Thomas  O.  Sel- 
f ridge,  Jr.,  the  third,  wrhile  the  marines  were  under  the 
command  of  Captain  L.  L.  Dawson.  The  seamen  were 
repelled  with  a  loss  of  eighty-two  killed  and  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-nine  wounded.  The  troops,  having  less 
resistance,  carried  the  fort.  Among  the  killed  were 
Lieutenants  Samuel  W.  Preston  and  Benjamin  H.  Por- 
ter, Assistant-Surgeon  William  Longshaw,  Jr.,  and 

Harris;  the  Aries,  Acting-Volunteer-Lieutenant  Francis  S.  Wells;  the 
Governor  Buckingham,  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  John  Macdiarmid; 
the  Alabama,  Acting- Volunteer-Lieutenant  A.  R.  Langthorn ;  the  Fort 
Donelson,  Acting-Volunteer-Master  G.  W.  Frost ;  the  Wilderness,  Acting- 
Master  Henry  Arey ;  the  Nansemond,  Acting-Master  James  H.  Porter ;  the 
Little  Ada,  Acting- Master  Samuel  P.  Crafts;  the  ^olus,  Acting-Master 
Edward  S.  Keyser ;  and  the  Republic,  Acting-Ensign  John  W.  Bennett. 
The  Malvern  was  Porter's  flagship. 


1865.  FORT  ANDERSON. 


507 


Acting-Ensign  Robert  Wiley.  An  explosion  of  a  maga- 
zine in  the  fort  on  the  16th  killed  two  hundred  men. 
Among  the  wounded  were  Paymaster  Jewett  and  En- 
sign Leighton,  Lieutenant-Commander  Allen,  Lieuten- 
ants Bache,  Lamson  and  Baury,  Ensigns  Evans,  Harris, 
Chester,  Bertwhistle,  O'Connor,  Coffin  and  Wood,  Act- 
ing-Master Louch  and  Masters-Mates  Green,  Sims  and 
Aldrich.  The  assaulting  columns  of  the  army  were 
led  by  Generals  Comstock  and  Ames.  The  losses  to 
the  troops  were  about  seven  hundred  killed  or  wounded. 
The  place  was  garrisoned  with  fewer  than  two  thousand 
men,  including  officers. 

On  February  17th  Rear-Admiral  Porter  attacked 
Fort  Anderson,  which  was  halfway  between  Fort  Fisher 
and  Wilmington.  The  attacking  vessels  were  the  Mon- 
tauk  and  the  gunboats  Pawtucret,  Lenapee,  Unadilla, 
Pequot,  Mackinaw,  Huron,  Sassacus,  Pontoosuc, 
Maratanza,  Osccola,  S?iawmut,  Seneca,  Nyack,  Chip- 
pewa  and  Little  Ada.  The  attack  was  begun  on  the 
18th,  and  a  heavy  fire  was  maintained  until  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  when  the  fort  was  silenced.  The 
Confederates  abandoned  the  place  during  the  night. 
The  gunboats  had  three  men  killed  and  four  wounded. 
While  the  river  was  being  dragged  for  torpedoes  on 
the  20th  and  21st,  one  of  the  machines  exploded  under 
the  bow  of  the  Shawmut,  killing  two  men  and  wound- 
ing an  officer  and  one  man.  On  the  22d,  Porter  at- 
tacked Fort  Strong  at  Big  Island.  Before  the  enemy 
was  driven  from  his  guns  the  Sassacus  was  badly  in- 
jured by  several  shot,  one  of  them  at  the  water  line. 
On  the  night  of  the  20th  a  torpedo  that  the  Confeder- 
ates had  floated  down  from  Wilmington  struck  the 
wheel  of  the  Osceola,  blowing  the  wheelhouse  to  pieces, 
but,  although  doing  considerable  damage,  it  did  not 
injure  the  hull. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

CONFEDERATE   CRUISERS. 

AT  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  the  commerce  of 
the  United  States  was  next  to  the  largest  in  the  world, 
and  as  most  of  it  was  tributary  to  the  Northern  States 
the  leaders  of  the  Confederacy  from  the  first  exerted 
themselves  to  fit  out  commerce-destroyers.  One  of  the 
first  of  these  vessels  to  get  to  sea  was  the  Sumter,  for- 
merly the  Habana  of  the  line  running  between  New 
Orleans  and  Havana.  She  was  armed  with  an  8- inch 
pivot  gun  and  four  24-pounder  howitzers.  On  June  18, 
1861,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Raphael  Semmes, 
she  dropped  down  from  New  Orleans  to  the  Head  of 
the  Passes,  but  it  was  several  weeks  before  she  could 
evade  the  blockading  squadron.  Finally,  while  the 
Brooklyn  was  in  chase  of  a  sail,  she  made  a  dash  for 
the  bar,  and,  although  closely  pursued,  got  to  sea. 
Within  a  week  the  Sumter  made  eight  prizes.  During 
the  two  months  she  cruised  along  the  South  American 
coast  she  stopped  at  Curagao,  Trinidad,  and  Maranham, 
where,  although  her  character  was  well  known,  she  \\;is 
cordially  received  and  every  facility  was  given  to  her. 

The  Sumter  put  into  St.  Pierre,  Martinique,  for  coal 
and  supplies,  November  9th,  where  she  received  the 
usual  hospitalities  in  spite  of  the  neutrality  of  the  port. 
Five  days  later  Commander  James  Shedden  Palmer,  in 
the  Iroquois,  appeared  off  the  port,  and  learning  that 
the  rule  forbidding  the  stronger  vessel  to  leave  the  port 
within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  other  would  be  en- 
forced, he  took  a  position  off  the  harbor,  intending  to 
blockade  the  cruiser.  Arrangements  had  been  made 

508 


1861.  CAREER  OF  THE  SUMTER.  509 

with  the  master  of  an  American  schooner  in  port  to 
signal  to  the  Iroquois  the  direction  the  Sumter  took  in 
case  she  attempted  to  get  to  sea  at  night.  On  the  night 
of  November  23d  Semmes  headed  for  the  southern  part 
of  the  roads,  which  are  twelve  miles  wide,  and  observ- 
ing that  the  schooner  was  signaling,  he  divined  its  ob- 
ject, and,  waiting  until  he  was  sure  that  the  Iroquois 
wras  making  for  the  southern  entrance,  suddenly  turned 
back,  and,  favored  by  a  squall  of  rain,  made  his  escape 
by  the  northern  side  of  the  harbor. 

Taking  three  prizes  on  his  way  across  the  Atlantic, 
Semmes  docked  at  Cadiz  and  then  ran  round  to  Gibral- 
tar, taking  two  more  merchantmen.  At  this  place  he 
was  blockaded  by  the  Tuscarora,  the  Kearsarge  and 
the  Ino,  and  finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  escape, 
he  sold  his  vessel  and  disbanded  the  crew.  Later  in 
the  war  the  Sumter  became  a  blockade-runner.  The 
total  number  of  prizes  taken  by  this  vessel  was  fifteen, 
of  which  six  were  released  in  Cuban  ports,  seven  were 
burned,  one  ransomed  and  one  recaptured. 

Having  few  vessels  in  their  own  ports  suitable  for 
commerce-destroyers,  the  leaders  of  the  Confederacy 
purchased,  through  their  agents  and  middlemen,  ves- 
sels in  England,  which,  sailing  without  guns,  ammuni- 
tion or  crews,  were  met,  sometimes  at  sea  and  other 
times  in  out-of-the-way  places,  by  another  vessel  laden 
with  armament  and  stores,  and  thus  became  Confeder- 
ate cruisers.  The  principal  agent  for  these  transactions 
for  the  Confederate  States  in  England  was  Captain 
James  D.  Bulloch,  while  Commodore  Samuel  Barron 
represented  the  Confederacy  in  France.  The  condi- 
tions under  which  these  vessels  were  secured,  equipped 
and  commissioned  were  sufficiently  like  those  obtained 
by  Benjamin  Franklin  in  France  during  the  Revolution 
to  warrant  the  designation  "cruisers." 

The  first  of  this  class  of  Confederate  cruisers  was 
the  Florida,  built  at  Liverpool,  1861-'62,  exactly  on 
the  lines  of  the  British  gunboat  of  that  day,  under  the 


510  CONFEDERATE   CRUISERS.  1C63,  | 

name  of  Oreto,  ostensibly  for  the  Italian  Government. 
Although  our  minister  to  England,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  laid  conclusive  evidence  before  the  British 
Government  that  the  Oreto  was  in  reality  a  Confederate 
cruiser,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Italian  consul 
disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  the  vessel,  she  was  allowed 
to  clear  from  Liverpool,  March  22,  1862,  consigned  to 
Adderly  &  Co.,  of  Nassau,  the  correspondents  of 
Fraser,  Trenholm  &  Co.,  of  Liverpool,  the  wrell-known 
financial  agents  of  the  Confederate  Government.  On 
April  28th  the  Oreto  arrived  at  Nassau,  where  she  was 
joined  by  the  English  steamer  Bahama  from  Hartle- 
pool,  England,  laden  with  guns,  ammunition  and  a 
complete  outfit  for  a  cruiser.  In  order  to  keep  up  a 
semblance  of  complying  with  the  laws  of  neutrals,  the 
Orcto,  when  she  began  taking  aboard  her  armament, 
was  libeled,  but  was  quickly  released  by  the  sympa- 
thetic jury,  and  on  August  7th,  under  Commander 
John  Newland  Maffitt,  sailed  for  an  uninhabited  island 
in  the  Bahamas,  where  her  two  rifled  7-inch  guns  and 
six  6-inch  guns,  together  with  the  ammunition,  were 
taken  aboard,  and  she  began  her  career  as  the  Confed- 
erate cruiser  Florida.  At  this  time  the  vessel  had 
only  twenty-two  men  for  a  crew,  and  this  number  was 
reduced  by  yellow  fever  to  only  three  or  four  efficient 
men. 

Touching  at  Cardenas,  Cuba,  where  he  got  a  re-en- 
forcement of  twelve  men,  Maffitt  stood  over  to  Mobile, 
sighting  that  port  September  4th.  The  blockading 
squadron,  under  the  command  of  Commander  George 
Henry  Preble,  at  that  time  consisted  of  the  Oneida  and 
the  Winona.  As  the  Florida  was  constructed  on  the 
lines  of  the  English  cruisers  that  were  constantly  in- 
specting the  blockade  about  that  time,  Maffitt  hoisted 
English  colors,  and  in  broad  daylight  stood  for  the 
Union  vessels.  Deceived  by  this,  Preble  went  to  quar- 
ters and  approached  the  Florida,  believing  her  to  be 
an  English  man-of-war.  When  near  enough  he  hailed 


1862-1863.          MAPFITT  RUNS  THE  BLOCKADE.  511 

the  stranger,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  it.  The 
Oneida  then  fired  three  shots  in  succession  across  the 
Florida's  bow  without  getting  an  answer,  upon  which 
Preble  fired  his  broadside,  but  the  Florida  still  con- 
tinued on  her  swift  course.  The  Oneida,  the  Winona, 
and  the  schooner  Rachel  Seaman  (the  last  having  just 
arrived  off  the  port)  fired  as  rapidly  as  possible,  but  the 
Florida  was  speeding  away  at  fourteen  knots  an  hour 
to  the  seven  of  the  Union  vessels,  and  although  some- 
what damaged  she  gained  the  port. 

Speaking  of  the  injuries  the  Florida  received  from 
this  fire,  one  of  her  midshipmen,  G.  Terry  Sinclair, 
records:  "We  received  one  11-inch  shell  opposite  our 
port  gangway,  near  the  water  line.  It  passed  through 
our  coal  bunker,  painfully  wounding  one  man  and 
beheading  another,  thence  to  the  berth  deck,  where  our 
men  had  previously  been  ordered  as  a  place  of  safety. 
Fortunately  this  shell  did  not  explode,  the  fuse  having 
been  knocked  out,  probably  by  contact  with  the  ship's 
side.  Another  shell  entered  the  cabin  and,  passing 
through  the  pantry,  raised  havoc  with  the  crockery. 
The  ship  to  the  day  of  her  destruction  bore  the  marks 
of  upward  of  fourteen  hundred  shrapnel  balls.  Our 
additional  casualties  were  two  men  slightly  wounded." l 

Having  shipped  a  crew,  Maffitt,  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  January  16,  1863,  boldly  steamed 
through  the  Union  blockading  squadron  and  escaped, 
in  spite  of  the  additional  vessels  that  had  been  detailed 
especially  with  a  view  of  capturing  him.  Taking  three 
prizes,  the  Florida  was  chased  for  thirty-four  hours  by 
the  Sonoma,  Commander  Thomas  Holdup  Stevens,  but 
escaped  by  her  superior  speed.  Kunning  into  Nassau, 
she  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  joy  by 
the  British  inhabitants,  and  was  permitted  to  remain  in 
port  thirty-six  hours,  or  twelve  more  than  allowed  by 
Government  instructions.  She  also  took  aboard  coal 

1  Century  Magazine,  July,  1898. 


512  CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS.  1863. 

for  three  months,  although  the  authorities  had  forbid- 
den a  larger  supply  than  would  suffice  to  carry  her  to 
the  nearest  Confederate  port. 

Cruising  between  Bahia  and  New  York,  Maffitt  in 
five  months  took  fourteen  prizes,  one  of  which,  the 
Clarence,  was  armed  with  a  few  light  guns,  and,  being 
placed  in  charge  of  a  prize  crew  under  Lieutenant 
Charles  W.  Read,  went  on  an  independent  cruise 
against  our  commerce.  Between  May  6th  and  May 
]()th  Read  destroyed  four  vessels,  and  finding  his  fifth 
prize,  the  Tacony,  better  adapted  for  cruising,  he 
transferred  his  crew  and  armament  to  her  and  burned 
the  Clarence.  The  Tacony  in  two  weeks  made  ten 
prizes,  one  of  which,  the  Archer,  suited  Lieutenant 
Read  even  better  than  the  Tacony,  and,  burning  the 
latter,  he  continued  the  work  of  destruction  in  the 
Archer.  Running  into  the  harbor  of  Portland,  Me., 
with  a  boat  party  shortly  after  this,  Read,  with  a  dar- 
ing equal  to  Connyngham  in  the  Revolution,  cut  out 
the  revenue  cutter  Caleb  Gushing ;  but  on  the  follow- 
ing day  he  was -attacked  by  a  number  of  steamers  that 
came  out  in  chase,  and  was  captured  after  burning  his 
prize. 

Another  prize  of  the  Florida,  the  bark  Lapwing, 
was  converted  into  a  consort.  This  vessel  was  captured 
March  27th,  and,  being  placed  in  charge  of  Lieutenant 
R.  S.  Floyd  and  Midshipman  Sinclair  and  seven  men, 
made  an  independent  cruise.  Sinclair  describes  a  clever 
capture  made  by  the  Lapwing  as  follows  :  "  With  the 
Lapwing  we  captured  and  bonded  a  ship  by  a  little 
ruse  and  impudence.  Having  first  sawed  a  spar  to  the 
requisite  length  to  represent  a  long  gun,  we  painted 
and  mounted  it  on  two  wheels  taken  from  a  family  car- 
riage found  on  board.  With  this  trained  on  the  en- 
emy, but  not  too  conspicuously  in  view,  we  hove  him  to 
with  a  shot  from  our  12-pounder  [the  only  gun  the 
Lapwing  carried].  With  four  well-armed  men  I  was 
sent  on  board,  and  brought  the  captain,  with  his  papers, 


1863.  CATCHING  AN  AMAZON.  5^3 

back  with  me,  he  coming  in  his  own  boat.  It  was  not 
until  the  captain  came  on  board  our  ship  that  he  dis- 
covered our  weakness ;  but  it  was  then  too  late,  and 
there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done,  so  he  bonded  his 
ship  to  us,  returning  in  his  own  boat."1  Making  Bar- 
badoes  May  30th,  Lieutenant  Floyd  burned  the  Lap- 
wing, and  reached  the  settlement  with  his  men.  From 
this  place  they  proceeded  to  Queenstown  in  an  English 
bark,  eventually  rejoining  the  Florida  at  Brest. 

Meantime  the  Florida  had  sailed  from  Brest,  where 
she  remained  six  months,  and  being  completely  over- 
hauled was  placed  under  command  of  Captain  Charles 
Manigault  Morris.  She  then  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and. 
after  being  allowed  by  the  British  authorities  to  coal 
at  Bermuda,  continued  her  depredations  on  American 
commerce  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  peculiar  nature 
of  this  service  is  interestingly  revealed  by  Midshipman 
G.  T.  Sinclair  when  he  says  :  "Another  of  our  captures, 
a  vessel  from  the  East  Indies,  contained  a  rare  charac- 
ter in  an  old  lady,  who,  we  were  told,  was  a  missionary 
on  her  return  home  for  a  vacation.  As  usual,  Captain 
Morris  gave  this  lady  one  of  the  staterooms  in  his 
cabin ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  she  had  the  entire 
cabin,  and,  I  think,  had  she  stayed  much  longer,  would 
have  been  captain.  She  was  intensely  Union,  and  had 
little  use  for  'rebels,'  nor  did  she  hesitate  to  tell  us  so. 
We  got  in  the  habit  of  watching  for  her  head  as  it  came 
up  out  of  the  cabin  hatch,  when  there  would  be  a  gen- 
eral scamper ;  but  the  poor  officer  of  the  deck  was 
compelled  to  stand  and  take  her  tongue  lashing.  The 
old  lady  usually  promenaded  the  deck  with  a  green 
cotton  umbrella  raised,  and  on  one  occasion  one  of  the 
retreating  ones  returned  and  found  that  Lieutenant 
Stone,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  deck,  had  gone  into 
the  rigging,  where  he  remained,  looking  very  much  like 
a  cat  up  a  tree  with  a  dog  watching  him."2 

i  Century  Magazine,  July,  1898.  *  Ibid. 

78 


514  CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS.  1864. 

After  touching  at  Teneriffe,  Morris,  on  October  5,1 
1864,  anchored  at  Bahia  (intending  to  take  in  supplies 
and  then  pass  around  Cape  Horn  to  make  a  raid  on 
American  whalers  in  the  Pacific),  where  he  found  the 
United  States  sloop  of  war  Wachusett,   Commander  j 
Napoleon  Collins,  of  Wilkes'  flying  squadron.     Fearing  i 
that  a  battle  might  be  precipitated  in  the  harbor,  a 
Brazilian  corvette  anchored  between  the  two  vessels,  ft! 
A  little  before  daybreak,  October?,  1864,  Collins  crossed  { 
the  bow  of  the  corvette,  intending  to  ram  and  sink  the  j 
Florida  at  her  anchorage.     Captain  Morris  and  many  j 
of  his  officers  and  men  were  ashore.     Failing  to  strike  | 
square  on,  the  Wachusett  carried  away  the  Florida's  1 
mizzenmast,   main  yard,  and  some  of  the  bulwarks.  I 
After  an  exchange  of  a  few  shot,  Lieutenant  Thomas  K.   I 
Porter,  the  senior  officer  in  the  Florida,  surrendered 
with  sixty-nine  officers  and  men.     Collins,  who  had 
only  three  men  injured  in  the  affair,  took  the  cruiser  in   1 
tow  and  carried  her  out  of  the  harbor,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  the  Brazilian  authorities.     The  other    j 
officers  of  the  Florida  were  Lieutenants  S.  G.  Stone,  *< 
Samuel  Barron,  Jr.,  R.  S.  Floyd,  and  George  D.  Bryan ;  : ; 
Surgeon  Thomas  J.  Charlton,  Assistant- Surgeon  Thomas 
Emory,  Paymaster  Richard  Taylor,  Chief  Engineer  W.  1 
S.  Thompson,  Midshipmen  William  B.   Sinclair,  Jr., 
James  H.  Dyke,  G.  Terry  Sinclair,  and  Master's  Mate 
Thomas  T.  Hunter,  Jr. 

That  the  act  of  Commander  Collins  was  a  flagrant 
violation  of  the  rights  of  a  neutral  port  can  not  be  de- 
nied. But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  England,  France, 
Spain,  and  many  of  the  South  American  states  had  re- 
peatedly, outrageously,  and  to  a  far  more  serious  extent 
violated  their  neutrality  toward  the  United  States,  his 
course  does  not  seem  so  unjustifiable.  The  attack  of 
the  British  cruisers  Phoebe  and  Cherub  on  the  Essex  at 
Valparaiso  and  that  of  Sir  George  Collier's  squadron  on 
the  Levant  in  the  harbor  of  Port  Praya,  the  capture 
of  two  American  vessels  in  the  port  of  Tunis  by  the 


1863-1864.  ENGLAND'S  "NEUTRALITY."  515 

British  cruiser  Lyra,  and  two  in  Tripoli  by  the  Eng- 
lish war  ship  Paulina  in  the  Wnr  of  1812,  showed  how 
little  England  regarded  the  rights  of  neutral  nations. 
The  act  of  Commander  Collins  was  promptly  disavowed 
by  the  United  States  Government,  but  we  have  yet  to 
hear  of  any  satisfactory  reparation  being  made  by  the 
British  Government  in  the  cases  of  the  Essex  and  the 
Levant.  The  same  contempt  for  international  law  was 
shown  by  England  during  the  civil  war  until  the  result 
of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  known  in  London. 
Brazil  also  had  been  notorious  for  violating  her  neu- 
trality in  our  struggle  with  the  Confederate  States. 
Only  the  year  before  her  officials  at  Fernando  de  No- 
ronha  had  permitted  the  Alabama  to  take  into  the 
anchorage  the  American  merchant  vessel  Louisa  Hatch 
and  coal  from  her  and  then  burn  her.  About  the  same 
time  two  more  American  vessels  appeared  off  the  port, 
and,  running  out,  the  Alabama  destroyed  them,  re- 
turning to  the  harbor  the  same  day.  This  certainly  was 
quite  as  gross  a  violation  of  the  neutrality  of  Brazil  as 
the  act  of  Commander  Collins  ;  and  when  the  sum  total 
of  sucli  outrages  on  the  part  of  Brazil  and  the  United 
States  has  been  added  up,  the  balance  of  charges  will 
be  found  weighing  heavily  against  Brazil.  The  Florida 
was  taken  to  the  United  States  and  was  accidentally 
sunk  in  port.  While  under  Captain  Maffitt's  command 
the  Florida  and  her  tenders  captured  fifty-five  vessels, 
and  under  Morris  some  twenty  were  added  to  the  list. 

On  November  10,  1863,  the  British  Government  sold 
its  dispatch  boat  Victor  to  men  acting  in  the  interests 
of  the  Confederate  States,  and  after  the  inspector  of 
machinery  in  the  royal  dockyard  at  Sheerness  had 
enlisted  part  of  her  crew  she  put  to  sea  under  the 
name  of  RappaJiannock.  When  she  put  into  Calais 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  her  outfit  the  French 
officials  decided  that  they  would  not  allow  her  to  finish 
the  work  in  their  waters,  and  she  remained  in  that  port 
till  the  close  of  the  war. 


516  CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS.  1863. 

Another  English  vessel,  the  Georgia,  Lieutenant 
William  L.  Mauiy,  built  for  the  Confederacy  on  the 
Clyde,  got  to  sea  April  1,  1863,  and  off  Morlaix  she 
met  a  steamer  laden  with  her  armament  and  stores. 
Her  first  prize  was  the  Dictator,  of  New  York,  many 
of  her  crew  being  persuaded  to  ship  in  the  Georgia  to 
take  the  places  of  Englishmen  who  had  decided,  at  the 
last  moment,  not  to  enlist  in  the  Confederate  vessel. 
After  burning  the  Dictator,  Lieutenant  Maury  ap- 
peared off  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  and,  eluding  a 
National  war  ship,  joined  the  Alabama  at  Bahia.  The 
Georgia  then  stood  down  the  coast  to  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
off  which  port  she  captured  the  George  Griswold.  In 
making  the  run  for  Trinidad  this  cruiser  captured  and 
destroyed  several  vessels,  among  them  the  Good  Hope. 
It  was  while  this  merchantman  was  burning  that  the 
American  bark  Seaver  drew  near,  attracted  by  the 
flames.  Her  master  promptly  put  off  in  his  gig, 
and  unsuspectingly  boarded  the  Georgia.  "His  first 
words,  as  he  stepped  over  the  side,  were,  'Can  I  be 
of  any  assistance  ?  How  did  she  catch  fire  ? '  Poor 
fellow  !  He  thought  the  blaze  was  accidental,  and  had 
headed  for  the  burning  ship  to  offer  assistance.  .  .  . 
He  explained  that  he  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  was  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  civil 
war  was  raging  at  home.  Under  the  circumstances 
Captain  Maury  decided  not  to  burn  him.  Our  prison- 
ers were  put  on  board  his  vessel,  and  he  went  his  way 
rejoicing."1 

After  passing  the  National  steam  frigate  Niagara 
one  dark  night,  so  closely  that  voices  could  be  heard 
aboard  her,  the  Georgia  arrived  at  Simonstown,  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  a  few  hours  after  the  Alabama  had  left 
there  for  the  East  Indies.  At  this  port  the  Confeder- 
ates were  cordially  received  by  the  people  in  the  Brit- 

1  James  Morris  Morgan,  who  served  in  the  Georgia  as  midshipman. 
See  Century  Magazine  for  August,  1898. 


1863.  A   NARROW  ESCAPE.  5^ 

ish  troop  ship  Himalaya.  Putting  to  sea  a  few  days 
afterward,  the  Georgia  made  a  short  cruise  to  the 
south  and  met  the  tea  fleet,  eastward  bound.  "By 
this  move,"  writes  Midshipman  Morgan,  "we  missed 
running  into  the  United  States  ship  Vanderbilt,  which 
was  hunting  for  us.  When  we  turned  to  the  north 
with  the  fleet,  and  while  going  from  one  vessel  to  an- 
other inquiring  of  them  their  nationality,  we  came 
under  the  shadow  of  Table  Mountain  late  in  the  after- 
noon, and  saw  the  Vanderbilt  on  the  horizon  steaming 
for  Table  Bay.  We  did  not  molest  her,  but  satisfied 
ourselves  with  making  a  prize  of  the  merchant  ship 
John  Watt."  The  Georgia  next  put  into  Santa  Cruz, 
in  the  Canaries,  where  she  was  hospitably  treated  by 
the  governor.  Continuing  her  course  northward,  this 
cruiser,  during  a  calm,  captured  the  American  mer- 
chantman Bold  Hunter,  laden  with  coal.  "We  tried 
to  replenish  our  stock  from  her,"  wrote  Mr.  Morgan, 
"but,  the  wind  rising,  the  sea  became  too  high,  and  we 
recalled  our  prize  crew,  who  before  returning,  fired 
the  ship. 

"The  officer  of  the  deck  on  the  Georgia,  through 
carelessness,  allowed  his  vessel  to  drift  too  near  the 
burning  prize,  which  was  forging  ahead  under  all  sail, 
with  no  one  aboard  to  control  her  movements.  Seeing 
a  collision  imminent,  he  pulled  the  engine  bell  to  go 
ahead  at  full  speed.  As  the  engine  started  there  was 
a  crash  in  the  engine  room,  and  we  knew  that  the 
usual  accident  had  happened — namely,  that  the  wooden 
cogs  which  turned  the  shaft  had  broken.  In  an  instant 
the  Bold  Hunter  was  upon  us.  She  rose  on  a  high  sea, 
and  came  down  on  our  rail,  smashing  boat  davits  and 
boats.  She  recoiled,  and  rushed  at  us  again  like  a 
mad  bull.  This  time,  plunging  from  the  top  of  a 
huge  wave,  she  came  down  on  our  taffrail,  doing 
much  damage.  It  now  looked  as  though  the  cruise 
of  the  Georgia  was  about  to  end  ;  and  had  not  the 
Bold  Hunter  suddenly  sheered  off  and  passed  to  lee- 


518  CONFEDERATE   CRUISERS.  1863-1864. 

ward  of  us,  the  cruiser  undoubtedly  would  have  been 
destroyed."1 

On  the  following  day  Captain  Maury  fell  in  with 
the  French  bark  La  Patrie,  and,  as  her  master  refused 
to  allow  his  vessel  to  be  boarded,  the  Confederates  re- 
sorted to  force.  No  injury  was  inflicted,  and,  finding 
that  her  papers  were  correct,  the  Georgia  continued  on 
her  course.  This  incident  gave  rise  to  diplomatic  cor- 
respondence between  the  French  and  Confederate  Gov- 
ernments. Arriving  "at  Cherbourg,  the  Georgia,  after 
many  weeks  of  delay,  was  permitted  to  enter  a  Gov- 
ernment dock  and  undergo  much-needed  repairs.  It 
was  here  decided  by  the  Southern  naval  authorities 
in  Europe  to  place  the  Georgia  out  of  commission  as 
soon  as  her  armament  could  be  transferred  to  the  Rap- 
pahannocJc,  then  at  Calais.  Captain  Maury  accord- 
ingly was  detached  from  the  Georgia,  while  that  ves- 
sel, in  charge  of  her  executive  officer,  put  to  sea  and 
made  all  speed  for  a  rendezvous  on  the  coast  of  Mo- 
rocco, some  thirty  miles  south  of  Mogador,  where  the 
RappahannocJc  was  to  join  her  and  receive  her  arma- 
ment. As  has  been  shown,  the  French  authorities 
would  not  permit  the  Rappahannoclc  to  leave  port ;  so 
the  Georgia,  after  a  long  wait  at  the  appointed  rendez- 
vous—at one  time  narrowly  escaping  shipwreck  on  a 
lee  shore — made  for  Bordeaux,  where  it  was  learned 
that  French  gendarmes  still  guarded  the  moorings  that 
held  the  RappahannocTc  to  the  quay  of  Calais.  After 
a  stay  of  several  weeks  at  this  place,  the  Georgia,  elud- 
ing a  National  cruiser  in  the  night,  stood  out  to  sea, 
and  on  May  9,  1864,  reached  Liverpool.  Here  the  crew 
was  paid  off  and  the  vessel  sold  to  a  British  merchant, 
who  had  a  contract  to  carry  the  mails  between  Liver- 
pool and  Lisbon.  On  her  first  trip  the  Georgia  was 
seized  by  the  Niagara  off  Lisbon  and  sent  to  Boston, 
where  she  was  condemned  by  a  prize  court,  the  British 

1  Century  Magazine,  August,  1898. 


1864-1803.       SHENANDOAH  DESTROYS  WHALERS.  519 

merchant  never  receiving  compensation  for  the  fifteen 
thousand  pounds  he  paid  for  her.  In  all,  the  Georgia 
made  eight  prizes. 

The  last  of  the  British-built  vessels  in  the  service  of 
the  Confederacy  was  the  Sea  King,  a  fast-sailing  vessel 
with  auxiliary  steam  power,  engaged  in  the  East  India 
trade.  On  October  8,  1864,  she  sailed  from  London  for 
Bombay,  her  commander  having  the  authority  to  sell 
her  within  six  months.  On  precisely  the  same  day  the 
British  steamer  Laurel  sailed  from  Liverpool,  and  by 
one  of  the  strange  coincidences  so  common  with  Eng- 
lish ships  during  our  war  these  two  vessels  a  few  days 
later  met  one  another  near  some  deserted  islands  of 
the  Madeira  group.  Another  coincidence  was  that  the 
Laurel  had  nineteen  Confederate  naval  officers  aboard, 
and  in  her  hold  were  a  large  number  of  cases  marked 
"machinery,"  which  proved  to  be  just  the  kind  of  guns 
that  would  be  suitable  for  the  Sea  King.  After  the 
arms  and  ammunition  had  been  transferred  to  the  Sea 
King  she  was  placed  in  commission  as  the  Confeder- 
ate cruiser  Shenandoah,  Captain  James  Iredell  Wad- 
dell.  The  principal  object  of  the  Shenandoahs  cruise 
was  the  destruction  of  the  American  whaling  trade  in 
the  Japan  Sea  and  the  Arctic  Ocean,  where  it  had 
always  been  a  formidable  rival  to  the  English. 

After  taking  a  few  prizes  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  the 
Shenandoah  proceeded  to  Melbourne,  Australia,  where, 
strange  to  say,  she  met  another  ship  from  England 
laden  with  coal,  just  at  a  time  when  Captain  Waddell 
most  needed  that  commodity.  Kemaining  here  nearly 
a  month  instead  of  "twenty-four  hours,"  she  enlisted 
forty-two  men  and  sailed  for  Behring  Straits,  where  she 
destroyed  a  large  number  of  American  whalers.  In  her 
career  as  a  Confederate  cruiser  the  Shenandoah  cap- 
tured nearly  forty  American  merchantmen,  most  . 
which  were  destroyed  at  sea.  "We  made  it  a  rule 
from  the  start,"  wrote  Midshipman  John  Thomson 
Mason,  of  the  Shenandoah,  "that  there  should  be  no 


520  CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS.  1862-1865.! 

pillaging  of  the  captured  vessels.  If  we  needed  stores  i 
for  the  ship's  use  we  took  them,  but  our  sailors  were 
never  allowed  to  plunder  on  their  own  account." l  Cap- 
tain Waddell  had  been  an  officer  in  the  United  States 
navy.  His  executive  was  Lieutenant  William  C. 
Whittle,  Jr.,  son  of  Captain  Whittle,  U.  S.  N.,  while 
the  other  lieutenants  were  John  Grimball,  Sidney 
Smith  Lee,  son  of  Captain  S.  S.  Lee,  U.  S.  N.,  and 
nephew  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  Francis  T.  Chew, 
and  Dabney  Minor  Scales.  Lieutenants  Whittle  and 
Grimball  had  been  classmates  of  Admiral  Dewey  at 
Annapolis.  The  sailing  master  of  the  Shenandoah  was 
Irvine  S.  Bulloch,  brother  of  the  Confederate  agent  in 
England,  and  had  served  in  the  same  capacity  in  the 
Alabama  in  her  action  with  the  Kearsarge.  The  other 
ward-room  officers  were  Surgeon  Charles  E.  Lining, 
Assistant-Surgeon  F.  J.  McNulty,  Paymaster  W.  B. 
Smith,  Chief-Engineer  Matthew  O'Brien,  Passed  Mid- 
shipmen Orris  A.  Browne  and  John  Thomson  Mason. 
Twelve  of  the  Shenandoah' 's  crew  had  served  in  the 
Alabama  during  her  action  off  Cherbourg.  Learning, 
on  June  28,  1865,  that  the  war  had  ended,  Waddell 
returned  to  Liverpool  and  gave  up  his  vessel  to  the 
British  Government. 

Strenuous  efforts  were  made  by  the  Confederate 
Government  to  secure  formidable  ironclads,  with  which 
it  was  hoped  to  raise  the  blockade  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
and  recover  the  Mississippi  River.  It  was  only  after 
the  most  earnest  remonstrances  of  our  minister  that 
England  seized  the  ironclad  rams  and  prevented  them 
from  going  to  sea.  Captain  Bulloch  contracted  with 
the  builders  of  the  Alabama  for  two  swift  double-tur- 
reted  rams  plated  with  five  and  a  half  inches  of  iron 
and  armed  with  four  9-inch  rifled  guns,  which  would 
have  made  them  superior  to  any  vessel  then  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  United  States.  These  vessels  were  allowed 

1  Century  Magazine,  August,  181)8. 


1864-1865.  RAID  OP  THE  TALLAHASSEE. 


521 


to  be  launched  before  the  British  Government  could  be 
induced  to  take  action  concerning  them.  Finally,  on 
the  threat  of  Mr.  Adams  that  the  equipment  and  sailing 
of  these  rams  meant  a  declaration  of  war,  they  were 
taken  into  the  British  navy  as  the  Scorpion  and  the 
Wi'cern.  In  France  the  Confederate  agents  contracted 
for  four  corvettes  and  two  rams,  but  only  one  of  these, 
the  Stonewall  Jackson,  Captain  Thomas  Jefferson  Page, 
got  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederate  agents.  She  was 
sold  first  to  Denmark,  and  then  to  the  agents  of  the  Con- 
federate States.  Being  plated  with  four  and  a  half 
inches  of  iron  and  armed  with  a  300-pounder  rifled 
Armstrong  gun  and  two  rifled  70-pounders,  she  would 
have  made  short  work  of  any  of  our  wooden  ships. 
Springing  aleak  on  her  first  cruise,  she  put  into  Ferrol, 
and  in  March,  1865,  offered  battle  to  the  sloop  of  war 
Niagara,  Commodore  Thomas  Tingey  Craven,  and  the 
Sacramento  ;  but  Craven  very  properly  refused  to  fight 
such  a  formidable  antagonist.  Proceeding  to  Havana, 
the  Stonewall  Jackson  was  surrendered  by  the  Spanish 
officials  to  the  United  States.  Finally  she  was  sold  to 
Japan. 

Several  of  the  blockade  runners  were  temporarily 
turned  into  cruisers.  In  October,  1864,  the  Edith  came 
out  of  Wilmington  as  the  Chickamauga,  and  in  the 
course  of  several  weeks  captured  four  or  five  coasters. 
On  the  night  of  August  6, 1864,  the  Confederate  cruiser 
Tallahassee,  Captain  John  Taylor  Wood,  ran  the  block- 
ade off  Wilmington  and  shaped  her  course  for  Sandy 
Hook.  This  craft,  originally  the  Atlanta,  had  been 
built  on  the  Thames  ostensibly  for  the  Chinese  opium 
trade,  but,  through  one  of  those  adroit  manipulations 
so  frequently  experienced  by  English  vessels  in  this 
war,  she  soon  found  her  way  to  Wilmington,  and  was 
manned  and  equipped  as  a  Confederate  war  ship.  She 
carried  one  rifled  100-pounder,  one  rifled  60-pounder, 
one  32-pounder,  and  a  long  Parrott  gun.  Cruising  off 
Sandy  Hook  several  days  the  Tallahassee  made  a  num- 


522  CONFEDERATE  CRUISERS.  1864. 

ber  of  prizes,  many  of  them  small  craft  of  little  value, 
the  most  important  capture  being  the  packet  ship 
Adriatic,  of  one  thousand  tons.  Destroying  his  prizes, 
Captain  Wood  appeared  off  Boston  and  then  put  into 
Halifax,  taking  a  number  of  vessels  on  the  way.  Hav- 
ing replaced  his  mainmast — which  had  been  carried 
away  in  a  collision  with  the  Adriatic — and  taking 
aboard  coal,  Captain  Wood  evaded  the  several  National 
war  ships  that  were  in  waiting  for  him  off  the  port,  and, 
running  down  the  coast,  rushed  the  blockade  off  Wil- 
mington and  regained  that  port,  having  made  thirty- 
five  prizes  in  this  short  cruise.  The  Tallahassee  made 
another  cruise  under  the  names  Olustee  and  Cliame- 
leon—  this  time  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Ward — after 
which  she  was  taken  to  England,  and  eventually  was 
sold  to  Japan  as  a  cruiser. 

The  tribunal  that  assembled  at  Geneva  for  the  pur- 
pose of  arbitrating  the  "Alabama  claims"  decided  that 
England  should  pay  to  the  United  States  fifteen  million 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  losses  caused  by 
the  Florida,  the  Alabama,  and  the  Shenandoah  after 
she  left  Melbourne. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   KEARSARGE-ALABAMA   FIGHT. 

THE  most  famous  of  the  English-built  Confederate 
cruisers  was  the  Alabama,  the  two  hundred  and  nine- 
tieth ship  built  in  the  Lairds'  shipyard.  In  spite  of  the 
clearest  evidence  submitted  by  Minister  Adams  that 
this  vessel  was  fitting  out  at  Liverpool  for  service 
against,  United  States  commerce,  the  English  Govern- 
ment allowed  her  to  sail  July  29,  1862.  After  complet- 
ing her  preparations  at  a  point  fifty  miles  from  Liver- 
pool, she  passed  to  the  north  of  Ireland  and  arrived 
at  the  Azores  August  10th,  where  she  was  met  eight 
days  later  by  the  bark  Agrippina,  from  London,  laden 
with  guns,  ammunition,  stores  etc.  On  the  20th  the 
steamer  Bahama,  from  Liverpool,  arrived,  having  on 
board  Captain  Raphael  Semmes  with  a  complement  of 
officers  and  a  crew,  most  of  the  latter  being  English- 
men. Steaming  beyond  the  line  of  neutral  jurisdic- 
tion, Semmes  lashed  the  two  vessels  alongside  and 
went  through  the  formality  of  commissioning  the  Ala- 
bama as  a  Confederate  cruiser,  and  on  the  24th  began 
his  famous  cruise.  The  Alabama  was  both  a  sailing 
vessel  and  a  steamer.  Her  propeller  could  be  detached 
and  hoisted  in  fifteen  minutes,  so  that  she  could  make 
from  ten  to  twelve  knots  with  sails  alone,  and  with 
steam  added  fifteen  knots. 

Captain  Semmes  had  nicely  calculated  the  time  it 
would  take  for  news  of  his  whereabouts  to  reach  the 
United  States  and  a  cruiser  to  overtake  him,  so  his  plan 
was  to  cruise  in  one  locality  not  more  than  two  months 
and  then  renew  his  depredations  in  some  other  quarter 

523 


524:  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA   FIGHT.       1862-1863. 

of  the  globe.  Sailing  leisurely  across  the  Atlantic,  the 
Alabama  burned  twenty  American  vessels,  Captain 
Semmes  constituting  a  prize  court  in  all  cases  where 
doubt  arose  as  to  the  ownership  of  captured  cargoes. 
Reaching  the  Banks,  he  headed  southwest  and  touched 
at  Martinique,  where,  on  November  18th,  by  a  previous 
arrangement,  the  Agrippina  was  found  waiting  for 
him  with  a  full  supply  of  coal.  While  the  Alabcunt 
was  in  this  port  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  San 
Jacinto,  Commander  William  Ronckendorff,  which  ves- 
sel had  been  dispatched  in  search  of  the  Alabama,  en- 
tered the  harbor.  Discovering  the  Confederate  cruiser, 
and  learning  that  the  twenty-four-hour  rule  v/ould  be 
enforced,  Commander  Ronckendorff  immediately  stood 
out  and  waited  for  the  Alabama.  On  the  night  of 
October  20th,  however,  Semmes  got  to  sea  unobserved. 
Cruising  among  the  West  India  islands,  he  captured 
the  mail  steamer  Ariel,  December  7th,  which  was  re- 
leased under  bonds  to  pay  ransom.  Another  sailing 
vessel  laden  with  coal  met  the  Alabama  at  an  out-of- 
the-way  rendezvous,  and  having  replenished  her  stores 
she  was  again  cruising. 

From  newspapers  found  in  his  prizes  Semmes  had 
learned  of  the  intended  expedition  of  General  Banks 
against  Galveston,  and  with  the  hope  of  intercepting 
the  Union  transports  he  headed  for  that  port,  and  on 
January  11,  1863,  drew  near  the  place.  At  that  time 
the  blockade  squadron  consisted  of  the  Brooklyn,  Com- 
modore Henry  H.  Bell,  the  Hatteras,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Homer  C.  Blake,  the  Cayuga,  the  Sciota  and 
several  light  gunboats.  The  Hatteras  was  a  frail  side- 
wheel  passenger  steamer  designed  for  service  on  the 
Delaware.  Her  machinery  was  entirely  exposed  to 
shot.  In  the  great  demand  for  steamers  early  in  the 
war  she  was  taken  into  the  service  and  mounted  four 
short  32-pounders,  two  rilled  30- pounders,  one  rifled  20- 
pounderand  one  12-pounder  howitzer,  having  a  total  shot 
weight  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  The  Ala- 


1863.  THE  HATTEBAS  AND  THE  ALABAMA.  525 

lama  carried  one  rifled  100-pounder  Blakely  gun,  one 
8-inch  shell  gun  and  six  long  32-pounders,  with  a  total 
shot  weight  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  three 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  pounds  of  which  could  be 
pivoted  on  either  broadside. 

About  meridian,  January  llth,  the  lookout  at  the 
Brooklyn? s  masthead  reported  a  three-masted  schooner 
or  a  bark  about  twelve  miles  off  making  for  the  port. 
As  the  sloop  of  war  was  having  new  grate  bars  put  in 
she  did  not  have  steam  up,  and  Commodore  Bell  sig- 
naled the  Hatteras  to  run  down  to  the  stranger.  The 
Union  vessel  promptly  made  for  the  newcomer,  who 
was  seen  to  be  making  sail  as  if  desirous  of  escaping 
seaward.  As  the  afternoon  wore  on,  Blake  discovered 
the  stranger  to  be  a  steamer,  and  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  Hatteras,  although  an  exceedingly  slow  ves- 
sel, was  rapidly  overhauling  the  chase,  he  began  to 
suspect  that  she  was  not  so  anxious  to  escape  as  her 
manoeuvres  indicated.  When  the  pursuit  had  extended 
about  twenty'miles  the  stranger  hove  to,  waiting  for  the 
Hatteras  to  approach.  Running  within  hailing  dis- 
tance, Blake  asked  what  ship  it  was,  and  was  told  "  Her 
Britannic  Majesty's  ship  Petrel"  which  bore  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  vessel  before  him.  While  this  was 
going  on  the  Alabama  attempted  to  secure  a  raking 
position,  but  Blake  skillfully  avoided  it.  The  Union 
commander  then  gave  the  name  of  his  ship  and  ordered 
a  boat  aboard  the  stranger,  but  scarcely  had  it  left  the 
side  when  a  voice  from  the  stranger  called  out,  "This 
is  the  Confederate  States  steamer  Alabama"  Then  a 
broadside  was  poured  into  the  Hatteras,  which  imme- 
diately showed  that  the  Union  vessel  was  under  the 
guns  of  a  vessel  of  superior  force.  Seeing  that  his  only 
hope  was  at  close  quarters,  Blake  put  on  full  speed 
and  attempted  to  board  ;  but  Semmes,  aware  of  his  ad- 
vantage, steamed  ahead,  and,  crossing  the  Hatteras' 
course  about  forty  yards  distant,  continued  the  action 
on  the  other  side. 


526  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA  FIGHT.  1863. 

At  first  the  firing  on  both  sides  was  spirited,  but 
the  odds  were  too  great  and  the  guns  in  the  National 
vessel  were  quickly  silenced.  The  Alabama  fired  with 
great  accuracy.  Shell  after  shell  crashed  through  the 
thin  hull  of  the  National  gunboat  and  exploded  with 
dreadful  effect.  In  ten  minutes  the  Hatteras  was  on 
fire  in  several  places,  her  walking  beam  was  shot  away, 
and  water  rushed  through  the  openings  made  by  sheets 
of  iron  being  torn  off.  In  thirteen  minutes  she  was  dis- 
abled and  rapidly  sinking,  upon  which  Blake  surren- 
dered. The  Confederates  promptly  got  out  their  boats 
and  rendered  every  assistance  in  saving  our  men,  and 
showed  them  much  kindness  and  attention  when  aboard 
the  Alabama.  Ten  minutes  after  the  surrender  flic 
Hatteras  sank  out  of  sight,  bow  first.  The  Alabama 
then  made  for  Port  Royal,  Jamaica,  and  landed  IUT 
prisoners. 

On  hearing  the  distant  booming  of  guns  and  the 
flashes  of  light  the  Brooklyn,  the  Sciota  and  the  T'nxja 
got  under  way  and  steered  for  the  scene  of  action,  but, 
although  cruising  all  night,  they  saw  nothing  of  the 
Hatteras  or  of  the  mysterious  stranger.  On  the  fol- 
lowing morning  the  masts  of  a  sunken  vessel  with  the 
tops  awash  were  made  out,  which,  on  closer  examina- 
tion, proved  to  be  the  Hatteras.  Nothing  about  the 
wreck  indicated  who  the  stranger  was. 

On  leaving  Port  Royal  Semmes  headed  southward, 
and  for  two  months  held  a  position  on  the  belt  one 
hundred  miles  wide  near  the  equator,  which  was  the 
"cross  roads"  for  the  homeward-bound  East  India  and 
Pacific  trade.  Taking  eight  prizes  here,  he  proceeded 
to  Fernando  de  Noronha,  where  he  coaled  from  a  prize, 
the  Louisa  Hatch.  While  be  was  in  this  port  t\v<> 
American  vessels  appeared  in  the  offing,  and,  without 
any  remonstrance  from  the  Brazilian  authorities,  he  ran 
out  and  destroyed  them  and  returned  on  the  same  day. 
Taking  ten  prizes  in  the  two  months  that  she  was  off 
Brazil,  the  Alabama,  in  July,  sailed  for  the  Cape  of 


1863-18G4.  WAITING   FOR  THE  ALABAMA.  507 

Good  Hope,  in  company  with  the  bark  Conrad,  a  prize, 
which  had  been  fitted  up,  armed  with  two  12-ponnder 
howitzers  and  placed  in  commission  as  the  Tusca- 
loosa,  Lieutenant  John  Lowe.  The  British  authorities 
of  Cape  Town  extended  every  assistance  to  the  Ala- 
bama in  her  work  of  destroying  England's  great  com- 
mercial rival.  Learning  that  the  Vanderbilt,  Com- 
mander Charles  II.  Baldwin,  one  of  the  vessels  that  had 
been  fitted  out  with  a  roving  commission  for  the  express 
purpose  of  capturing  the  Alabama,  was  in  the  vicinity, 
Semmes  determined  to  change  his  cruising-ground  to 
the  East  Indies.  There  he  remained  six  months,  and 
after  capturing  seven  vessels  and  eluding  the  sloop  of 
war  Wyoming,  he  returned  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Sunday  morning,  June  12,  1864,  the  United  States 
sloop  of  war  Kearsarcje,  Captain  John  Ancrum  Wins- 
low,  lay  off  the  sleepy  town  of  Flushing,  Holland. 
Many  of  her  officers  and  men  were  ashore,  and  every- 
thing about  the  ship  denoted  an  entire  absence  of 
thought  of  immediate  action.  As  the  day  wore  on, 
however,  a  cornet  suddenly  appeared  at  her  foremast 
and  a  gun  was  fired,  a  signal  for  every  member  of  the 
ship's  company  to  repair  on  board  immediately.  Wins- 
low  had  just  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Dayton,  our 
minister  to  France,  saying  that  the  Alabama  had  ar- 
rived in  Cherbourg.  *On  leaving  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  Semmes  had  sailed  for  Europe,  arriving  at  Cher- 
bourg June  llth.  Hastily  making  his  preparations  for 
an  immediate  departure,  Winslow  steamed  to  Dover 
for  dispatches,  and  on  Tuesday  appeared  off  Cherbourg, 
where  the  Confederate  flag  could  be  seen  across  the 
breakwater,  flying  from  the  Alabama.  Fearing  that 
the  twenty-four-hour  rule  might  be  applied  to  his  ship, 
Winslow  did  not  anchor  in  the  harbor,  but  took  a  sta- 
tion off  the  port.  A  close  watch  was  placed  in  order  to 
prevent  the  Alabama  from  again  getting  to  sea  unob 
served.  In  this  instance,  however,  the  precaution  was 
unnecessary,  for  Captain  Semmes  had  determined 


528  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA  FIGHT.  1864. 

offer  battle  to  the  National  ship,  and  intimated  this 
intention  to  the  United  States  consul. 

The  two  vessels  were  remarkably  well  matched,  the  ' 
Kearsarge  carrying  two  11-inch  pivot  guns,  four  short  ; 
32-pounders  and  one  rifled  30-pounder,  in  all  seven  '• 
guns,  having  a  total  shot  weight  of  four  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds  ;  while  the  Alabama  carried  one  100- 
pounder  Blakely  gun,  one  8-inch  shell  gun  and  six 
long  32-pounders,  in  all  eight  guns,  with  a  total  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  shot  weight.  In  the 
battle,  however,  which  was  fought  with  the  starboard 
batteries  of  each  ship,  the  Kearsarge  used  only  five 
guns,  with  a  total  shot  weight  of  three  hundred  and 
sixty-six  pounds,  while  the  Alabama  used  seven  guns, 
with  a  total  shot  weight  of  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  pounds,  which  lessened  the  difference  in  weight 
of  metal  to  an  inconsiderable  question  of  thirty-eight 
pounds.  The  Kearsarge^s  complement  was  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  men,  while  that  of  the  Alabama 
was  one  hundred  and  forty-nine.  The  former  had  a 
slight  superiority  of  speed,  but  this  was  not  utilized  in 
the  action.  A  year  before,  while  at  the  Azores,  Cap- 
tain Winslow  had  arranged  his  sheet  chains  for  a  dis- 
tance of  forty-nine  feet  six  inches  amidships  over  the 
side  of  his  vessel  and  extending  six  feet  two  inches 
down,  as  additional  protection  to  his  machinery.  These 
chains  were  secured  up  and  down  by  marline  to  eye- 
bolts  and  covered  with  1-inch  deal  boards.  But  as  this 
part  of  the  ship  was  struck  only  twice  in  the  action, 
this  protection  can  not  be  counted  as  having  materially 
favored  the  National  ship. 

Comparative  forces. 

Tons.  Guns.         Pounds.  Crew. 

Kearsarge:  1,031  7  366  163 

Alabama:  1,016  8  328  149 

The  sentiment  among  the  townsfolk  was  overwhelm- 
ingly in  favor  of  the  Alabama.     Whenever  her  men 


"SHE'S  COMING!"  529 

were  recognized  in  the  streets  they  were  received  with 
enthusiasm  and  with  prophecies  of  victory.  The  scene 
in  the  lonely  ship  that  cruised  back  and  forth  in  quiet 
reaches  beyond  the  breakwater  was  quite  different. 
The  cheap  plaudits  of  the  populace  were  not  needed 
to  nerve  the  Yankee  sailor  to  his  duty.  Winslow  real- 
ized that  the  public  feeling  in  France  and  England  was 
against  him  and  his  crew,  but  he  cared  naught  for  that. 
He  knew  what  the  American  tars  had  done  in  former 
wars,  and  he  had  an  implicit  confidence  in  his  own 
ship's  company.  And  so  day  after  day  and  night  after 
night  the  Kearsarye  in  grim  silence  stood  guard  over 
the  harbor.  With  each  passing  hour  the  hope  of  a 
battle  grew  fainter.  Wednesday  came  and  no  Alabama. 
Thursday  came  and  passed,  with  the  same  barren  re- 
sult ;  then  Friday  and  Saturday,  yet  no  fight. 

Sunday,  June  19th,  dawned  with  a  light  haze 
hanging  over  the  harbor  and  town,  but  in  the  light 
westerly  breeze  the  mists  were  gradually  cleared  away, 
revealing  the  shipping  and  town  in  all  the  beauty 
of  a  bright  summer's  day.  A  careful  scrutiny  of  the 
harbor  gave  no  indication  of  the  Alabama's  coming 
out  that  day,  and  the  usual  routine  of  the  Sabbath  in 
an  American  war  ship  began.  The  decks  were  holy- 
stoned until  they  shone  with  dazzling  whiteness,  the 
brass  works  and  guns  were  polished,  ropes  were  coiled 
away  and  everything  made  shipshape  in  keeping  with 
the  holy  day.  After  the  men,  dressed  in  their  best 
clothes,  had  been  inspected,  they  were  dismissed  to  at- 
tend divine  service.  At  10.20  A.  M.,  while  the  bell  was 
tolling  for  church,  the  officer  of  the  deck  reported  a 
steamer  coming  out  of  the  harbor,  but  as  this  was  a 
common  occurrence  it  aroused  no  special  interest,  and 
preparations  for  worship  went  on.  But  a  few  seconds 
later  the  words  "She's  coming,  and  heading  straight 
for  us ! "  flashed  over  the  ship.  It  was  not  necessary 
to  ask  "Who?"  Everybody  knew  what  the  "she^" 
meant.  Captain  Winslow  immediately  put  aside  his 

79 


530  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA  FIGHT.  1864.    I 

prayer  book,  and,  seizing  the  trumpet,  ordered  the  ship    ! 
about  and  the  decks  cleared  for  action. 

Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  Semmes  had  got  under 
way,  accompanied  by  the  French  ironclad  Couronne, 
flying  the  pennant  of  the  commandant  of  the  port,  •• 
whose  duty  it  was  to  see  that  the  fight  should  not  take 
place  within  the  marine  league.  Having  performed 
this  duty,  the  Frenchman  returned  to  port.  Closely 
following  him  was  the  private  English  yacht  Deer- 
hound.  Soon  the  hills  and  vantage  points  along  the 
coast  were  black  with  spectators,  many  supplied  with 
camp  stools  and  spyglasses,  eager  to  witness  a  naval 
battle,  while  special  wires  to  Paris  reported  each  stage 
of  the  action  to  the  excited  throngs  in  the  metropolis. 
It  was  estimated  that  more  than  fifteen  thousand  people 
witnessed  the  battle,  several  of  them  being  the  masters 
of  merchant  vessels  that  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
Alabama.  Excursion  trains  from  Paris  arrived  fre- 
quently, adding  to  the  crowds  of  spectators.  As  the 
Kearsarge  was  burning  Newcastle  coal  and  the  Ala- 
bama Welsh  coal,  causing  a  distinction  in  the  smoke, 
little  difficulty  was  experienced  in  following  the  move-  \ 
ments  of  the  two  vessels. 

In  order  that  no  question  about  neutral  waters 
should  be  raised,  Winslow  led  the  Alabama  seaward, 
and  at  10.50  A.  M.,  on  reaching  a  point  about  seven 
miles  from  land,  he  turned  round  and  headed  straight 
for  the  Alabama  notwithstanding  that  he  was  exposed 
to  a  raking  fire  from  the  entire  broadsides  of  the  Con- 
federate cruiser.  At  10.57,  when  the  vessels  were  about 
eighteen  hundred  yards  apart,  the  Alabama  opened  the 
action  with  a  broadside,  which  cut  away  a  little  of  the 
rigging,  but  did  no  material  damage.  A  second  and 
part  of  a  third  broadside  were  fired  with  a  similar  want 
of  serious  effect,  when  Captain  Winslow,  fearing  a  rak- 
ing fire,  sheered  round  and  delivered  his  broadside  of 
five-second  shells  at  a  distance  of  about  nine  hundred 
yards.  Without  slackening  his  speed,  Winslow  en- 


1864.  MAGNIFICENT  AMERICAN  GUNNERY.  531 

deavored  to  pass  under  the  Alabama's  stern,  but 
Semmes  prevented  this  manoeuvre  by  putting  his  helm 
hard  to  port.  Each  vessel  then  continued  to  keep  its 
starboard  broadside  toward  the  other,  which  resulted  in 
a  circular  motion,  the  ships  going  round  a  common  cen- 
ter. Seven  complete  revolutions  were  made  in  this  way, 
the  three-mile  current  carrying  the  ships  westward. 

Early  in  the  action  a  shot  from  the  Kearsarge  car- 
ried away  the  Alabama's  gaff  and  colors.  Observing 
this,  the  National  crew  cheered,  but  the  Confederates 
soon  hoisted  another  ensign  at  their  mizzen.  About  the 
close  of  the  battle  a  shot  carried  away  the  halyards  of 
the  Kearsarge's  colors,  stopped  at  the  mizzen,  and  in 
so  doing  pulled  sufficiently  to  break  the  stop  and 
thereby  unfurled  the  flag  that  was  to  be  shown  in 
case  of  victory.  The  firing  of  the  Kearsarge  was  an- 
other exhibition  of  that  magnificent  American  gunnery 
which  formed  one  of  the  notable  features  of  the  War  of 
1812.  Word  was  passed  along  the  American  battery  to 
let  every  shot  tell.  The  wisdom  of  this  was  shown  in 
the  result,  the  Kearsarge  firing  only  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  missiles,  nearly  all  of  which  took  effect, 
while  the  Alabama  fired  three  hundred  and  seventy,  of 
which  only  twenty-eight  struck.  The  11 -inch  pivot 
guns  in  the  Kearsarge  especially  were  handled  with 
great  skill.  One  11 -inch  shell  entered  the  port  of  the 
Alabama's  8-inch  gun,  sweeping  off  a  part  of  the  gun 
crew.  Another  11-inch  shell  entered  the  same  port, 
killing  one  man  and  wounding  several,  which  was 
quickly  followed  by  a  third  shell  of  the  same  caliber 
in  the  same  place.  Another  heavy  shell  entered  the 
wardroom  and  swept  away  the  table  on  which  Assist- 
ant-Surgeon Llewellyn  was  operating,  and,  exploding, 
blew  out  the  side  of  the  ship.  Our  11-inch  shells,  how- 
ever, were  aimed  principally  a  little  below  rather  than 
above  the  Alabama's  water  line,  with  a  view  of  sink- 
ing her,  while  the  32-pounders  swept  her  decks.  In 
after  pivot  gun  crew  of  the  Alabama  was  reformed  four 


532  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA  FIGHT.  1SG4. 

times  during  the  action.  As  the  vessels  circled  round 
they  gradually  drew  nearer  to  each  other,  and  toward 
the  close  of  the  action  they  were  less  than  six  hundred 
yards  apart,  at  which  time  the  fire  from  the  National 
vessel  was  reported  as  being  terribly  accurate. 

Of  the  twenty-eight  shot  that  struck  the  Kearsarge, 
one,  a  68-pounder  shell,  penetrated  the  starboard  bul- 
wark and  exploded  on  the  quarter-deck,  wounding  three 
men,  one  of  them,  William  Gowin,  mortally.  When 
he  was  taken  below,  his  interest  in  the  battle  was  un- 
abated notwithstanding  his  terrible  injuries.  "Lying 
on  his  mattress,  he  paid  attention  to  the  progress  of  the 
fight,  so  far  as  he  could  by  the  sounds  on  the  deck,  his 
face  showing  satisfaction  whenever  the  cheers  of  his 
shipmates  were  heard ;  with  difficulty  he  waved  his 
hand  over  his  head  and  joined  in  each  cheer  with  a 
feeble  voice."1  One  shell  exploded  in  the  hammock 
nettings  and  started  a  fire,  but  the  firemen  were  called 
away  and  speedily  extinguished  the  flames.  One  shell 
lodged  in  the  sternpost,  and  had  it  exploded  it  might 
have  done  serious  injury,  but  the  fuse  failed  to  ignite. 
No  great  damage  was  done  by  the  other  shot  that  struck 
the  vessel. 

At  noon  the  Alabama  ceased  firing,  set  her  fore 
trysail  and  jib  and  endeavored  to  run  inshore.  This 
manoeuvre  for  the  first  time  brought  her  port  broadside 
to  bear  where  only  two  guns  could  be  used,  Semmes 
hoping  to  bring  the  shotholes  on  the  starboard  side 
above  the  water  line  by  heeling  his  ship  to  port. 
Observing  the  Alabama's  intention,  Winslow  quickly 
steered  so  as  to  cross  her  bow,  and  was  about  to  pour 
in  a  raking  fire  when  she  hauled  down  her  flag.  Not 
knowing  whether  the  colors  had  been  carried  away  by 
a  shot  or  by  accident,  and  thinking  that  it  might  be 
merely  a  ruse  to  enable  the  Alabama  to  reach  the  neu- 
tral waters,  now  only  two  miles  distant,  Winslow  ceased 

1  Surgeon  John  M.  Browne,  of  the  Kearsarge. 


1864.  BRITISH   INTERFERENCE.  533 

firing,  but  held  his  guns  in  readiness  to  open  again  at 
a  moment's  notice.  About  this  time  the  white  flag  was 
displayed,  which  convinced  the  National  commander 
that  the  Alabama  intended  to  surrender,  and  he  began 
his  preparations  for  rendering  her  assistance.  But  at 
this  moment  the  Alabama  renewed  her  fire,  upon  which 
the  Kearsarge  discharge:!  three  or  four  guns.  Yet  the 
course  of  the  famous  cruiser  had  been  run.  She  was 
rapidly  settling,  and  the  only  two  serviceable  boats  in 
the  Kearsarge  were  sent  to  save  the  drowning  men. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  Alabama  settled  by  the  stern, 
and,  lifting  her  bow  high  out  of  the  water,  plunged 
to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

About  this  time  a  boat  from  the  Alabama,  in  charge 
of  Master's-Mate  Fullam,  an  Englishman,  came  along- 
side, begging  for  assistance.  On  his  promising  to  re- 
turn to  the  Kearsarge,  AVinslow  allowed  Fullam  to 
turn  back  and  save  the  drowning  men,  but  the  promise 
was  broken  and  Fullam  repaired  on  board  the  Deer- 
hound.  On  the  approach  of  the  British  steam  yacht 
Captain  Winslow  requested  her  to  assist  in  saving  the 
men.  She  did  so,  and  picked  up  forty-two  men,  in- 
cluding Semmes  and  fourteen  officers,  but  instead  of 
placing  them  aboard  the  Kearsarge,  as  Winslow's  re- 
quest implied,  she  gradually  edged  off,  and  then  put 
on  full  steam  for  Southampton.  After  picking  up  the 
remaining  men  the  Kearsarge  put  into  Cherbourg. 

In  response  to  our  minister's  request  that  these  men 
be  given  up,  the  British  Government  declined  to  do 
so,  claiming  that  it  could  not  consistently  with  inter- 
national law.  This  was  only  another  of  the  many  in- 
stances of  Great  Britain's  straining  at  a  gnat  when 
international  law  favored  the  South  and  swallowing  a 
camel  when  it  favored  the  North.  In  fact,  England, 
not  only  in  this  but  in  all  other  wars,  had  so  outra- 
geously violated  both  the  letter  and  spirit  of  inter- 
national law  that  it  is  with  surprise  that  we  find  her 
offering  a  point  of  it  as  an  excuse  for  not  surrendering 


534:  THE  KEARSARGE-ALABAMA  FIGHT.  1864 

these  men  in  1864.  Americans  had  come  to  believe! 
that  not  even  a  shred  of  that  legal  texture  was  left  in| 
England.  As  to  the  owner  of  the  Deerhound,  one  fact! 
stands  out  above  controversy,  and  that  is  that  he  was! 
not  actuated  by  any  principles  of  international  law 
whatever  (of  which  he  at  that  moment  was  densely 
ignorant),  but  was  impelled  by  the  general  desire  of 
all  England  to  see  the  United  States  divided  and  thus 
become  a  less  formidable  rival  to  Great  Britain. 

This  celebrated  sea  fight  was  among  the  last  of  the ; 
actions  in  which  the  navy  took  part  in  the  civil  war.  j 
From  the  time  our  gunboats  began  fighting  on   the ; 
Potomac  and  the  western  rivers,  to  Rear- Admiral  Por- 
ter's operations  near  Wilmington,   the  record  of  the 
navy  has  been  notable.     Whether  the  claim  of  South- 
ern writers,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  United  States 
sea  forces  the  South  would  have  triumphed,  is  exag- 
gerated or  not,  the  fact  remains  that  the  services  of  1 
our  naval  officers  and  seamen  were  of  incalculable  value.  ; 
At  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  at  Memphis  and  Vicks-  j 
burg,  in  the  many  desperate  actions  on  the  western  ! 
rivers,  at  the  great  victories  in  Hampton  Roads,  New  t 
Orleans,  and  Mobile  Bay,  and  in  the  hazardous  and  » 
brilliant  service  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts,  the  j 
navy  demonstrated  its  great  value  as  a  defensive  and 
offensive  force. 

NOTE.— Lieutenant  James  S.  Thornton,  the  executive  officer  of  the 
Kearsarge,  was  executive  officer  of  the  Hartford  when  Farragut  passed  the 
New  Orleans  forts  and  served  with  conspicuous  bravery  in  the  subsequent 
river  engagements.  For  his  gallantry  in  the  Kearsarge- Alabama  fight  he 
was  advanced  thirty  numbers.  Acting-Master  Edward  E.  Prcble,  who 
served  in  this  action  with  gallantry  as  the  navigator  of  the  Kearsarget 
was  a  grandson  of  Captain  Edward  Preble,  who  commanded  the  Ameri- 
can squadron  before  Tripoli  early  in  the  century. 


CHAPTER  XXII.    . 

BLOCKADE   RUNNERS. 

ONE  feature  of  the  maritime  operations  in  the  civil 
war  deserving  special  notice  was  that  directed  against 
blockade  runners.  The  magnitude  of  these  operations 
is  seen  when  we  remember  that  in  the  course  of  the  war 
eleven  hundred  and  forty-nine  prizes  were  brought  in, 
two  hundred  and  ten  of  them  being  steamers,  besides 
which  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  craft  were  destroyed, 
of  which  eighty-five  were  steam  vessels,  making  a  total 
of  fifteen  hundred  and  four  vessels  captured  by  the 
National  cruisers.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Confed- 
eracy was  dependent  on  Europe  for  nearly  all  of  its 
manufactured  supplies,  and  that  its  only  means  of 
making  payment  was  the  produce  of,  the  South.  In 
fact,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  the  Confederacy  was 
vulnerable  only  at  this  point,  and  a  systematic  attack 
on  this  weakness  of  the  South  engaged  the  attention 
of  many  of  our  cruisers  and  men  during  the  four  years 
of  the  war. 

The  humiliating  dependence  of  the  South  on  Europe 
for  manufactured  articles  is  well  illustrated  by  R.  0. 
Crowley,  who  commanded  a  Torpedo  Division  of  the 
seceding  States,  when  he  says :  "To  give  some  idea  of 
the  many  difficulties  we  encountered,  I  will  mention, 
first,  the  scarcity  of  cannon  powder  ;  secondly,  we  had 
only  about  four  miles  of  insulated  copper  wire  in  the 
entire  Confederacy ;  thirdly,  we  could  obtain  only  about 
four  or  five  feet  of  fine-gauge  platinum  wire.  Battery 
material  was  very  scarce,  and  acids  could  be  purchased 

J  535 


536  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  1861-1864. 

only  from  the  small  quantity  remaining  in  the  hands 
of  druggists  when  the  war  broke  out.  .  .  .  During 
the  last  year  of  the  war  arrangements  had  been  per- 
fected to  secure  a  large  quantity  of  insulated  wire, 
cables,  acids,  batteries,  and  telegraph  apparatus,  etc., 
from  England,  an  officer  having  been  sent   there  for 
that  purpose.     Every  material  requisite  for  the  exten- 
sion of  our  torpedo  system  throughout  the  entire  South    i 
was  obtained,  and  a  small  advance  shipment  did  actu- 
ally reach  us  through  the  blockade  at  Wilmington,    j 
The  remainder  was  put  on  board  a  swift  steamer  with    , 
the  intention  of  running  the  blockade  and  returning    ! 
with  a  full  cargo  of  cotton ;  but  from   the  stress  of 
weather,  or  other  causes,  the  steamer  put  into  the  port 
of  Fayal,  and,  as  I  understand,  was  wrecked  in  that 
port  either  from  the  stupidity  of  the  pilot  or  from 
treachery.    The  entire  cargo  was  lost,  and  it  was  im- 
possible  to   duplicate   our   material   before  the  war 
ended."1 

We  have  noted  in  these  pages  what  awful  havoc  the 
Confederates  created,  even  with  the  scanty  and  defec- 
tive materials  they  had,  among  our  war  ships.  The 
sinking  of  the  Tecumseh,  with  nearly  one  hundred  of 
her  men,  in  Mobile  Bay,  the  destruction  of  the  Commo- 
dore Jones,  with  half  of  her  complement,  in  James  River, 
the  loss  of  the  Housatonic  in  Charleston  harbor,  the 
damaging  or  destruction  of  a  dozen  or  more  of  our 
monitors  and  wooden  war  craft  at  other  points  along 
the  Atlantic  and  on  the  Western  rivers,  cause  us  to 
shudder  when  we  come  to  speculate  on  the  catastro- 
phies  the  Southern  Torpedo  Board  could  have  brought 
to  our  doors  had  they  possessed  adequate  material  for 
properly  carrying  on  that  diabolical — as  it  was  then 
generally  considered — style  of  warfare.  Yet,  on  the 
testimony  of  the  men  engaged  in  that  particular  serv- 
ice, we  see  that  one  of  the  most  dangerous  and  dreaded 

1  Century  Magazine,  June,  1898. 


18G3.       DANGERS  FROM  CONFEDERATE  TORPEDOES.        537 

means  of  defense  was  eliminated  from  the  problem  con- 
fronting the  Nationalists  by  reason  of  the  blockade 
maintained  by  our  maritime  forces. 

Speaking  of  the  operations  in  Charleston  harbor, 
Mr.  Crowley  says:  "We  were  without  the  necessary 
material  to  extend  our  system  to  Charleston  harbor ; 
besides,  the  exigencies  of  the  situation  at  Richmond 
and  Wilmington  were  too  pressing  to  permit  us  to 
think  of  Charleston.  However,  some  attempts  were 
made  by  the  local  military  authorities  to  lay  torpedoes 
in  the  harbor,  and  a  large  one  was  planted  in  the  main 
channel,  the  wires  being  led  into  Fort  Sumter.  On 
April  7,  1803,  the  Federal  fleet,  commanded  by  Admiral 
Dupont,  moved  up  the  channel  northward  toward  Sul- 
livan's Island,  the  frigate  [Neio\  Ironsides  in  advance, 
followed  by  the  ironclad  Keokuk  and  the  wooden  ves- 
sels. At  a  distance  of  about  one  thousand  yards  these 
powerful  warships  opened  on  Fort  Sumter  with  terrific 
effect,  and  received  iu  return  a  heavy  fire  from  all  the 
adjacent  forts.  The  [New]  Ironsides  passed  over  and 
over  the  torpedo  before  mentioned,  and  everybody 
awaited  with  intense  anxiety  the  moment  when  it  was 
expected  she  would  be  blown  to  pieces  by  its  explo- 
'fiion.  It  failed  to  'go  off,' however.  Several  reasons 
were  assigned  for  the  failure,  but  probably  the  true 
reason  was  wet  powder  and  want  of  system  in  properly 
testing  the  wires  and  the  torpedo  tank.  The  Federals 
believed  that  the  harbor  was  thickly  studded  with  ex- 
plosives ;  and,  although  this  belief  exercised  a  very 
considerable  moral  effect,  it  did  not  prevent  them  from 
advancing  bravely  to  attack  powerful  forts,  not  know- 
ing at  what  moment  their  ships  might  be  destroyed."1 

That  President  Lincoln's  proclamation  early  in  the 
war,  declaring  all  the  ports  of  the  Confederacy  to  be 
in  a  state  of  blockade,  ran  us  afoul  of  that  sound  prin- 
ciple of  international  law— namely,  "that  a  blockade, 

1  Century  Magazine,  June,  1898. 


538  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  1861-1865. 

to  be  recognized  as  such,  must  be  effective  " — can  not 
be  denied,  but  as  the  struggle  progressed  one  after  the 
other  of  the  Southern  ports  were  closed  to  the  seced- 
ing States,  and,  our  National  sea  forces  concentrating 
their  efforts  on  the  remaining  harbors,  the  blockade 
became  most  damaging  to  the  South.  At  first  the 
blockade  runners  had  little  to  fear  from  our  navy,  and 
an  almost  uninterrupted  supply  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion flowed  into  the  South,  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that, 
for  the  first  two  years  of  the  strife,  the  armies  of  the 
South  were  remarkably  successful.  The  control  and 
patrol  of  the  Mississippi  and  other  Western  rivers  cut 
off  that  vast  territory  to  the  southwest  from  the  Con- 
federacy, and  greatly  simplified  the  problem  of  block- 
ading the  remaining  coast  line  of  the  South. 

It  was  not  until  the  price  of  cotton  had  fallen  in  the 
South  to  eight  cents  a  pound  and  had  risen  to  fifty 
cents  a  pound  in  Liverpool  that  blockade  running  was 
reduced  to  the  nice  science  which  made  it  celebrated. 
Early  in  the  war  any  of  the  vessels  remaining  to  the 
Confederacy  could  have  engaged  in  this  trade  with 
comparative  impunity ;  but  as  the  lines  of  the  blockad- 
ing squadrons  were  tightened  the  first  blockade  runners 
were  captured  or  driven  to  other  service,  while  the 
enormous  profits  soon  induced  the  British  merchant  to 
build  vessels  especially  adapted  for  the  traffic.  As  a 
rule,  these  vessels  were  required  only  for  the  short  runs^ 
between  Nassau  or  Bermuda  to  Charleston,  Wilming- 
ton, and  Savannah.  Every  device  that  ingenuity  could 
suggest  was  adopted  to  render  these  craft  swift,  invisi- 
ble, and  handy  for  the  conditions  peculiar  to  the  serv- 
ice. "  The  typical  blockade  runner  of  1863-'64  was  a 
long,  low,  side-wheel  steamer  of  from  four  to  six  hun- 
dred tons,  with  a  slight  frame,  sharp  and  narrow,  its 
length  perhaps  nine  times  its  beam.  It  had  feathering 
paddles  and  one  or  two  raking,  telescope  funnels,  which 
might  be  lowered  close  to  the  deck.  The  hull  rose  only 
a  few  feet  out  of  water,  and  was  painted  a  dull  gray 


1862.  INVISIBILITY  OP  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  539 

lead  color,  so  that  it  could  hardly  be  seen  by  daylight 
at  two  hundred  yards.  Its  spars  were  two  short  lower 
masts,  with  no  yards,  and  only  a  small  crow's  nest  in 
the  foremast.  The  deck  forward  was  constructed  in 
the  form  known  as  'turtleback,'  to  enable  the  vessel 
to  go  through  a  heavy  sea.  Anthracite  coal,  which 
made  no  smoke,  was  burned  in  the  furnaces. 
When  running  in  all  lights  were  put  out,  the  binnacle 
and  fireroom  hatch  were  carefully  covered,  and  steam 
was  blown  off  under  water." l 

The  difficulty  of  detecting  a  vessel  painted  lead 
color,  at  night,  is  well  illustrated  in  the  account  of  Mid- 
shipman G.  Terry  Sinclair.  Sinclair  had  been  ordered 
from  Richmond  to  Nassau,  and  on  reaching  Charles- 
ton he  says  :  u  On  arriving  and  taking  a  survey  of  the 
blockading  fleet  off  the  bar,  I  concluded  it  was  easier 
to  issue  such  orders  than  to  execute  them.  On  the 
evening  of  June  3d  [18G2]  I  went  on  board  the  Cecile, 
a  small  river  steamer,  painted  lead  color  to  render  her 
difficult  of  observation  at  night.  About  midnight,  as 
the  moon  settled  behind  the  hills,  we  steamed  slowly 
out  of  the  harbor,  and  were  soon  in  the  midst  of  the 
enemy,  whose  dark  hulls  were  plainly  visible  to  us. 
We  crept  slowly  by,  our  wheels  barely  revolving  lest 
the  sound  should  reach  the  ears  of  the  enemy.  Know- 
ing well  that  discovery  meant  a  prison  for  an  indefinite 
time,  each  minute  seemed  an  hour.  To  us,  who  so 
plainly  saw  the  dark  hulls  of  the  enemy,  it  seemed 
barely  possible  that  they  did  not  also  see  or  hear  us  ; 
but  they  did  not."2 

Usually  the  blockade  runner  left  Bermuda  or  Nassau 
at  a  time  calculated  to  bring  his  vessel  off  the  desired 
Southern  port  at  night  and  when  the  moon  would  be 
down.  Having  accomplished  this  most  important  part 
of  the  programme,  he  usually  found  everything  in  favor 

'  James  Russell  Soley.  in  The  Blockade  and  the  Cruisers,  pp.  150-157. 
*  Century  Magazine,  July,  1898. 


540  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  1862-1865. 

of  his  attempt.  Keeping  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  lights 
of  the  blockading  force,  he  stood  as  faraway  as  possible, 
until,  gaining  the  desired  position,  when,  everything 
having  been  prepared  for  the  crisis,  he  made  the  dash 
for  the  port,  frequently  passing  within  pistol  shot  of 
the  National  vessels  with  impunity.  Not  knowing 
when  the  rush  would  be  made,  the  blockading  vessels 
seldom  had  a  full  head  of  steam  up  ;  while  the  blockade 
runner,  vibrating  from  stem  to  stern  with  her  highest 
pressure,  generally  got  beyond  gunshot  before  the 
blockading  force  was  fairly  under  way.  Of  course, 
once  under  the  guns  of  the  land  batteries  the  blockader 
was  comparatively  safe,  but  even  then  there  have  been 
instances  where  the  craft  was  destroyed  by  daring  boat 
parties  from  the  National  vessels. 

In  short,  when  we  come  to  consider  the  many  cir- 
cumstances favoring  the  blockade  runner,  and  the 
stupendous  difficulties  confronting  the  blockader,  the 
wonder  is  that  such  a  large  number  of  vessels  of  this 
ilk  were  captured.  It  shows  in  a  very  forcible  manner 
that  our  officers  and  crews  were  most  diligently  and 
skillfully  performing  one  of  the  most  hazardous  and 
inglorious  duties  known  to  active  service.  It  was  sel- 
dom, indeed,  that  a  blockade  runner,  when  detected 
on  the  high  seas,  failed  to  outspeed  our  usually  slower 
war  ships,  and,  even  in  the  few  cases  where  the  Nation- 
alists happened  to  have  the  swifter  ship,  the  coming 
on  of  night,  or  a  squall,  or  the  shoaling  of  water  too 
frequently  demonstrated  the  time-honored  saying, 
"  There's  many  a  slip  'twixt  cup  and  lip."  An  interest- 
ing illustration  of  this  is  given  by  Captain  John  Wil- 
kinson, formerly  of  the  United  States  navy,  who  be- 
came one  of  the  most  successful  blockade  runners, 
having  run  the  blockade  twenty-one  times  between 
December,  1862,  and  November,  1863,  in  which  time 
he  carried  out  six  thousand  bales  of  cotton,  the  value 
of  which  in  England  was  over  a  million  dollars.  Wil- 
kinson relates  that  on  one  occasion,  while  making  the 


1861-1865.  TRICKS  OF  THE  TRADE. 


541 


run  from  Wilmington  to  Nassau,  he  was  hard  pressed 
by  a  sloop  of  war  which  was  gradually  overhauling 
him.  As  night  fell  over  the  sea  the  sloop  was  about 
four  miles  astern  and  gaining  rapidly,  when  Wilkinson 
directed  his  engineer  to  make  a  black  smoke  which 
could  be  readily  seen  by  the  pursuing  war  ship,  even 
though  the  darkness  soon  rendered  the  outlines  of  the 
chase  indistinct,  and  finally  obliterated  every  trace. 
When  Wilkinson  was  satisfied  that  his  pursuer  had 
nothing  but  the  black  smoke  from  his  funnels  to  steer 
by  he  ordered  the  dampers  to  be  turned  off,  thus  caus- 
ing the  smoke  to  cease  ;  the  ship's  course  changed 
eight  points,  so  that  in  a  short  time  she  had  com- 
pletely disappeared,  while  the  sloop  was  still  chasing 
the  smoke. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  the  blockade 
runner  had  to  contend  with  was  the  absence  of  guiding 
lights  along  the  coast  where  he  desired  to  make  port. 
Soon  after  hostilities  began  many  of  the  lights  were 
discontinued  and  temporary  guides  were  established. 
In  the  first  year  of  the  war  the  Frying  Pan  Shoal  light- 
ship was  carried  inside  the  entrance  of  the  port  of  Wil- 
mington and  anchored  in  fancied  security  under  the 
|    guns  of  Fort  Caswell.     The  gallant  attack  on  the  craft 
i    by  two  boats  from   the  Mount  Vernon,  Commander 
f— Oliver  S.  Glisson,  has  been  noted.1    To  repair  this  seri- 
•  ous  loss  the  Confederates  established  a  light  on  the 
Mound  Battery  at  New  Inlet.     At  first  the  blockade 
runners  availed  themselves  of  the  lights  on  the  block- 
ading vessels ;  but,  quickly  detecting  this,  the  National 
officers  extinguished  all  the  lights  in  their  squadrons, 
I  with  the  exception  of  a  single  lantern  on  the  senior 
officer's  ship,  which  usually  was  anchored  in  the  center 
of  the  force  and  nearest  to  the  entrance  of  the  port. 
As  showing  how  well  informed  those  centers  of  block- 
ade running— Nassau  and  Bermuda— were  kept  of  the 


See  pp.  185-186,  vol.  ii. 


542  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS. 

doings  of  the  Nationalists,  it  will  be  remarked  that 
soon  after  this  new  arrangement  for  the  lights  wi-nt 
into  effect  all  the  blockade  runners  were  made  aware 
of  it,  and  changed  their  tactics  accordingly,  so  that  the 
single  light  from  the  senior  officer's  ship,  so  far  fr«>m 
inconveniencing  the  enemy,  actually  improved  the  con- 
ditions for  the  dash  into  port.     The  vigilance  of  our 
officers  also  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  they  soon  dis- 1 
covered  the  advantage  the  single  light  afforded  the 
enemy,  and  turned  it  to  account  by  changing  the  posi- 1 
tion  of  the  flagship  each  night.     This  resulted  in  sev-  j 
eral  blockade  runners  miscalculating  their  bearings  and 
going  ashore,  where  the  vessel  and  cargo  were  either 
entirely  or  partially  destroyed. 

Finding  that  the  bold  dash  through  the  center  of 
the  blockading   force  was  becoming  more  and  more 
hazardous,  the  blockade  runner  resorted  to  the  plan  of  | 
hugging  the  shore  at  one  end  of  the  blockade  line,  and 
slipping  past  the  endmost  vessel  unobserved.     In  this 
the  enemy  was  favored  by  the  shadow  the  headlands 
threw  over  the  sea,  the  roar  of  the  surf  drowning  the  • 
noise  from  the  paddlewheels,  so  that  even  on  clear,  j 
starlit  nights  it  was  almost  impossible  for  him  to  be  , 
detected.     Once  having  passed  the  blockade  line,  the  j 
runner  would  show  a  light  on  her  land  side — invisible  ! 
from  the  sea — which,  by  prearrangement,  was  answered  | 
by  two  dim  lights  on  land,  which  enabled  the  blockade"  j 
runner  to  form  the  range  of  the  channel.     A  regular 
system  of  signals  was  devised  between  the  blockade 
runners  and  their  accomplices  on  shore  which  greatly   . 
mitigated  the  dangers  of  making  port.     When  Fort 
Fisher  fell  Lieutenant  Gushing  assumed  the  duties  of  i 
this  signal  service,  and  performed  the  work  so  skillfully 
that  two  notorious  blockade  runners,  the  Charlotte  and 
the  Stag,  were  inveigled  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  and 
captured  before  the  astonished  blockade  runners  knew 
that  those  fortifications  had  fallen  into  National  hands. 
With  a  view  to  thwarting  the  blockade  runner  in  his 


1863.  CHASE  OF  THE  KATE. 


543 


attempt  to  round  the  end  of  the  blockading  line,  the 
Nationalists  stationed  a  light-draft  vessel  at  either  end, 
while  several  other  smaller  gunboats  were  placed  half 
a  mile  within  the  line.  A  careful  watch  was  kept  for 
the  enemy,  and  when  discovered  the  blockade  runner 
was  permitted  to  pass  the  first  gunboat,  when  signals 
were  sent  up,  and  the  inside  gunboats  quickly  sur- 
rounded the  audacious  craft  and  captured  her. 

At  times,  even  when  the  blockade  runner  had  been 
chased  ashore,  the  bulk  of  her  cargo— and  in  many 
instances  the  cargo  was  worth  as  much  as  the  craft — 
was  saved.  In  fact,  it  was  well  understood  that  the 
Confederates  had  erected  batteries  at  certain  points 
along  the  coast,  generally  near  a  favorite  port  of  entry, 
•which  could  have  protected  a  beached  vessel,  at  least 
long  enough  to  land  her  cargo,  and  in  some  cases  to 
flave  the  vessel  itself.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  artil- 
lery, the  Confederates  did  not  station  guns  permanently 
in  these  batteries,  but  held  cavalry  and  guns  in  readi- 
ness to  be  rushed  to  any  earthwork  near  which  a  block- 
ade runner  had  benched. 

The  experience  of  the  new  English-built  blockade 
runner  Kate  is  a  case  in  point.  In  July,  1863,  she 
attempted  to  put  into  Charleston,  but  being  chased  off 
by  the  blockading  forces  there  she  made  for  Wilming- 
ton, and  attempted  to  pass  the  National  ships  off  New 
~Inlet,  On  being  sighted  early  in  the  morning,  chase 
was  given,  and  her  commander  was  compelled  to  beach 
on  Smith's  Island,  where  the  crew  landed.  A  boat 
party  from  the  Penobscot  attempted  to  float  her,  but 
failing  in  this  they  set  her  on  fire  and  left  her,  believ- 
ing her  destruction  to  be  assured.  Two  or  three  weeks 
afterward,  however,  the  Confederates  managed  to  float 
her  off,  and  anchored  her  under  a  battery.  It  was  only 
with  great  difficulty  that  she  was  finally  destroyed 
a  daring  boat  party. 

The  dangers  attending  attacks  on  blockade  runners 
are  well  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  ffebe,  a  Bermuda 


544  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  18G3 

steamer  laden  with  contrabands  of  war,   which  ranj 
ashore  on  Federal  Point  about  August  1,  1863.     Shei 
was  attacked  by  a  boat  from  the  blockading  ves<«-l 
Niphon,  a  screw  merchant  steamer  converted  into  a 
gunboat  for  the  war;  but,  as  it  was  blowing  a  heavy 
gale  at  the  time,  the  boat  was  swamped,  though  its 
crew  managed  to  gain  the  decks  of  the  stranded  craft. 
A  second  boat  party  was  not  so  fortunate,  their  boat 
also  being  swamped,  the  men  cast  ashore,  and  made  , 
prisoners  on  the  beach.     Several  other  boats  now  put 
off  to  the  assistance  of  our  men  in  the  Hebe,  as  that  ves-  j 
sel  was  covered  by  a  2-gun  battery.     One  of  these  boats 
was  upset,  and  finding  that  the  chances  of  rescue  were  , 
small  the  men  aboard  the  Hebe,  after  firing  the  vessel  > 
so  as  to  insure  her  destruction,  made  the  best  of  their 
way  to  the  shore  and  were  captured.     Several  days 
later  the  large  vessels  of  the  squadron  drew  close  in-  I 
shore,    and   after   silencing    the   Confederate    battery  j 
landed  a  force  and  brought  off  the  guns. 

Another  gallant  affair  of  this  kind  was  that  con- 
ducted by  Lieutenant  Roswell  H.  Lamson,  of  the  Nan- 
semond.     On  one  of  the  darkest  nights  of  October,    ' 
18G3,  Lamson,  while  stationed  with  the  blockading  fleet    : 
off  New  Inlet,  Wilmington,  discovered  a  strange  vessel    \ 
attempting  to  run  the  blockade.     She  was  the  Venus, 
one  of  the  swiftest  craft  engaged  in  the  contraband^ 
trade  between  Wilmington  and  Nassau.     The  Nanse- 
mond,  a  purchased  side- wheel  steamer,  was  quickly  put 
about  in  chase,  and  after  a  hard  run  got  within  easy 
gunshot,  when  Lamson  opened  lire,  his  first  shell  taking 
effect  in  the  enemy's  foremast,  the  second  exploding  in 
the  cabin,  while  the  third  killed  a  man  as  it  passed 
forward,  and  the  fourth  struck  the  Venus  between  wind 
and  water,  causing  her  to  leak  seriously.     Considering 
that  it  was  an  exceptionally  dark  night,  and  that  the 
two  vessels  were  moving  at  their  highest  rate  of  speed, 
we  may  well  admire  the  marksmanship  that  rendered 
four  successive  shells  effective.     Finding  that  his  craft 


1863.  BRECK'S  GALLANT  EXPLOIT.  545 

must  sink  in  a  short  time,  the  commander  of  the  Venus 
headed  straight  for  the  shore,  with  the  persistent  Nan- 
semond  close  behind  him.  Indeed,  so  rapid  had  been 
the  movements  of  the  Nationalists  that  scarcely  had 
the  keel  of  the  Venus  begun  to  grate  on  the  gravelly 
beach,  and  before  her  people  could  get  ashore,  when  a 
boat  full  of  armed  men  from  the  gunboat  shot  along- 
side, the  men  sprang  up  her  sides,  and  in  a  twinkling 
had  the  entire  ship's  company  prisoners.  Finding  that 
It  would  be  impossible  to  float  his  prize,  Lieutenant 
Lamson,  after  removing  his  prisoners,  riddled  the 
Venus  with  shell,  so  that  in  a  short  time  she  was  totally 
destroyed. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  November  9,  1863,  the 
Niphon,  under  the  command  of  Acting-Master  J.  B. 
Breck,  while  returning  to  her  station  off  Wilmington 
after  a  chase  toward  Masonboro  Inlet,  discovered  a 
side-wheel  steamer  endeavoring  to  run  the  blockade 
from  the  north.  Behind  the  stranger,  and  in  hot  pur- 
suit, was  a  National  gunboat,  which  kept  up  a  con- 
tinual fire  on  the  fleeing  blockade  runner— the  Ella 
and  Anna.  Finding  that  he  was  completely  trapped, 
the  commander  of  the  Ella  and  Anna  determined  on 
the  bold  course  of  running  the  NlpTion  down.  Observ- 
ing this  move,  Breck  massed  his  men  at  the  bow, 
intending  to  board  and  carry  the  stranger,  even  if  his 
own  ship  went  down.  On  dashed  the  blockade  runner 
at  the  top  of  her  speed,  and,  unmindful  of  the  storm  of 
canister,  crashed  into  the  NipTion,  carrying  away  the 
latter's  bowsprit  and  stern.  Not  waiting  to  see  if  then 
was  anything  left  of  his  own  ship,  Breck  ordered  the 
men  to  board,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  had  full  po* 
session  of  their  prize.  In  her  hold  were  found  three 
hundred  cases  of  Austrian  rifles,  besides  other  warlike 
stores,  the  sale  of  the  cargo  netting  one  hundred  an< 
eighty  thousand  dollars.  The  prize  was  taken  i 
the  service  under  the  name  Malvern. 

One  contrivance  for  eluding   the  vigilance  < 

80 


546  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  1863-1864.  j 

blockaders  merits  notice.  As  has  been  said,  the  block- 
ade runner  usually  managed  to  approach  the  port  at  | 
night ;  consequently  orders  were  given  to  the  officers 
of  the  National  vessels,  on  the  discovery  of  a  blockade 
runner,  to  sound  a  general  alarm  and  to  fire  rockets 
in  the  direction  the  suspected  craft  was  taking  when 
last  seen,  which  served  as  a  guide  for  the  other  vessels 
employed  in  the  blockade.  In  an  incredibly  short 
time  this  order  was  known  to  all  the  commanders  of 
vessels  engaged  in  carrying  contraband  of  war,  and 
forthwith  they  supplied  themselves  with  rockets,  and 
when  pursued  at  night  they  fired  off  enough  rockets 
for  a  fleet,  and  of  course  in  a  direction  they  had  little 
idea  of  taking.  This  confused  the  signals  made  by  the 
National  boat  discovering  the  enemy,  and  threw  the 
entire  blockading  force  off  the  scent.  On  one  dark 
night  in  September,  1864,  this  trick  resulted  in  an 
exasperating  escape  of  a  blockade  runner  off  Wilming- 
ton. The  HowquaJt  had  almost  run  down  a  contra- 
band, when  she  suddenly  found  herself  subjected  to  a 
severe  fire  from  several  of  her  consorts,  which  mistook 
her  for  the  "other  ship,"  and  she  was  compelled  to 
withdraw  and  allow  the  "real  ship"  to  escape  in  order 
to  save  herself  from  disaster. 

An  unpleasant  feature  of  blockade  running  was  in 
the  fact  that  a  number  of  officers  in  the  Royal  Navy 
assumed  command  of  such  craft  under  fictitious  names,' 
and,  undoubtedly  with  the  connivance  of  the  Admi- 
ralty, engaged  in  service  against  the  United  States. 
Doubtless  the  enormous  profits  to  be  made  out  of  a  few 
successful  runs  between  Southern  ports  and  Bermuda 
or  Nassau  was  the  main  incentive  for  the  British 
naval  officer  to  engage  in  this  discreditable  service. 
One  British  officer,  under  the  name  of  "A.  Roberts," 
states  that  when  blockade  running  was  in  the  zenith  of 
its  prosperity  the  rates  of  pay  in  a  vessel  of  the  first 
class  for  a  single  round  trip  between  Nassau  and  Wil- 
mington were:  Captain,  one  thousand  pounds;  chief 


•  1862-1865.     BRITISH   NAVAL  OFFICERS  IN  TRADE.  547 

officer,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds ;  second  and  third 
oiiirers,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each;  chief  en- 
gineer, five  hundred  pounds;  crew  and  firemen,  about 
fifty  pounds  each;  pilot,  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds— half  of  the  pay  for  each  venture  being  paid 
in  advance.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  pay  was  in 
British  gold,  which  at  that  time  commanded  a  large 
premium  over  the  currency  of  the  United  States,  so 
that,  when  figured  in  dollars,  twenty-five  per  cent  could 
easily  be  added  to  each  man's  salary.  Aside  from  these 
t'lmrmous  rates  of  pay.  the  officers  were  able  to  stow 
away  little  cargoes  on  their  own  account,  so  that  a 
six-hundred-pound  bale  of  cotton  snugly  packed  away 
under  a  bunk  and  in  different  parts  of  a  stateroom, 
valued  in  Liverpool  at  three  hundred  dollars,  was  one 
of  the  little  perquisites  within  the  grasp  of  these  mer- 
cenary officers.  We  can  easily  believe,  then,  that  many 
officers  engaged  in  this  contraband  trade  retired  in  six 
months  on  comfortable  fortunes. 

Another  harrier  to  blockade  running,  and  perhaps 
one  more  feared  by  the  enemy,  was  the  flying  squad- 
ron created  by  the  Nationalists,  which  was  directed  to 
cruise  some  fifty  miles  from  the  blockaded  ports  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  Bermuda  and  Nassau.  This  force  was 
under  the  command  of  Acting  Rear-Admiral  Charles 
JVilkes,  having  the  Wachusett  as  his  flagship,  and 
the  Sonoma*  Lieutenant  Thomas  Holdup  Stevens,  and 
Tioga,  Lieutenant  George  W.  Rodgers,  in  company. 
The  squadron  was  rapidly  increased  and  its  field  of 
operations  enlarged,  until  it  finally  covered  the  entire 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Some  of  the  other  vessels  added  to  it 
were  the  Dacotah,  Cimmerone,  Octorara,  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  and  Rhode  Island.  Speaking  of  this  flying 
squadron,  Captain  John  Taylor  Wood,  of  the  Confed- 
erate cruiser  Tallahassee,  said,  after  describing  his  rush 
past  the  blockading  force  off  Wilmington :  "More  to 
be  feared  than  the  inshore  squadron  were  the  vessels 
cruising  offshore  from  forty  to  fifty  miles,  in  a  position 


548  BLOCKADE  RUNNERS.  1862.' 

to  sight  at  daylight  the  vessels  that  might  come  out; 
during  the  night,  and  these  were  the  fastest  and  most  \ 
efficient  blockaders.  .  .  .  The  fact  that  we  were  chased  i 
by  four  cruisers  on  our  first  day  out  proved  how 
effective  was  the  blockade."1 

On  November  29,  1862,  Wilkes,  in  the  WacJiusett, 
having  the  Sonoma  and  Tioga  in  company,  appeared 
off  St.  George's  harbor,  Bermuda.  The  flagship,  with 
the  Tioga,  entered  the  port,  and,  observing  that  the 
fort  at  the  entrance  showed  no  colors,  Wilkes  landed 
and  demanded  an  explanation  of  the  governor.  That 
official  replied  that  there  was  only  a  sergeant's  guard 
in  the  fort.  "But  it  was  observed,"  records  Lieuten- 
ant Stevens,  "that  when  Wilkes  left  his  anchorage 
for  the  sea  the  meteor  flag  of  England  was  promptly 
hoisted."8 

In  striking  contrast  to  this  treatment  of  Wilkes,  we 
have  the  statement  of  Midshipman  G.  Terry  Sinclair,  of 
the  Confederate  cruiser  Florida,  Captain  Maffitt,  which 
visited  the  same  port  in  the  spring  of  the  following 
year.  Sinclair  says  :  "When  Captain  Maffitt  called  on 
the  governor,  who  was  an  admiral  in  the  English  navy, 
the  latter,  in  a  joking  way,  expressed  surprise  that  an 
ex-officer  of  the  American  navy  should  be  guilty  of 
such  a  breach  of  etiquette  as  entering  the  harbor  with- 
out saluting  the  English  flag.  To  this  Captain  Maffitt 
replied  that  he  could  not  do  otherwise,  as  his  salute 
would  not  be  returned.  The  governor  replied  that  he 
(Captain  Maffitt)  could  not  tell  unless  he  tried.  This 
was  hint  enough  for  Captain  Maffitt,  who  returned  to 
his  ship,  went  to  quarters,  and  hoisting  the  English 
ensign  at  his  masthead  saluted  it,  to  which  the  fort 
replied."8 

1  Century  Magazine,  July,  1898. 

*  Rear- Admiral  Stevens  to  the  author. 

»  Century  Magazine,  July,  1898. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

SEA   POWER   IX   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

THAT  we  may  better  understand  the  importance  of 
the  part  played  by  maritime  forces,  both  North  and 
South,  in  the  civil  war,  a  brief  historical  digression  is 
^necessary.     French,  English  and  American  statesmen 
.for  nearly  three  hundred  years  have  recognized  the 
[Mississippi  River  system  as  being  the  key  to  the  United 
I  States.     The  French  discovered  this  at  the  time  of  the 
earliest  settlements,   and   while  the  English,   Dutch, 
Scandinavians,  Scotch-Irish  and  Spaniards  were  estab- 
lishing themselves  along  the  seaboard,  the  French  were 
pushing  their  way  one  thousand  miles  inland,  perfect- 
ing a  chain  of  trading  posts  (in  reality  forts)  along  the 
St.  Lawrence,  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Eivers  and   the 
Great  Lakes,  by  means  of  which  they  hoped  to  merge 
the  Canadas  and  Louisiana  into  one  vast  domain  which 
not  only  would  cut  off  the  littoral  settlements  from  the 
Tboundless  West,  but  would  give  the  French  great  ad- 
vantages over  the  English  in  time  of  war. 

How  sound  was  the  judgment  of  these  statesmen  as 
to  the  superior  advantages  of  this  enormous  river  sys- 
tem over  the  seaboard  is  forcibly  shown  to-day  in  the 
general  decadence  of  commerce  in  our  Atlantic  cities 
and  the  unprecedented  massing  of  population  and 
trade  along  these  great  inland  waters.  When  we  see 
the  vast  commerce  of  the  great  West  pass  direct 
Europe  without  paying  toll  to  our  seaboard  cities,  we 
marvel  at  the  foresight  of  the  French  statesmen  who 
nearly  three  hundred  years  ago  devoted  their  energies 

549 


550  SEA  POWER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.          1678-1812. 

to  controlling  these  inland  water  ways,  well  content  to 
allow  their  rivals  to  occupy  the  thin  outer  edge  of  the 
vast  continent  so  long  as  the  French  were  making  sure 
of  the  continent  itself.  As  early  as  1678  De  la  Salle 
launched  a  craft  of  ten  tons  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  a 
year  later  one  of  sixty  tons  was  launched  on  Lake  Erie. 
No  one  was  more  alive  to  the  great  power  threatening 
him  in  the  rear  than  the  English  settler  himself,  and 
in  this  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  persistent  efforts 
made  by  the  seaboard  colonists  to  wrest  this  territory 
from  their  inveterate  foe. 

When  the  war  for  American  independence  broke 
out  the  English  followed  the  old  scheme  of  the  French 
ministers  to  control  all  inland  waters,  and  to  use  them 
as  a  means  of  attacking  the  seaboard  territory  in  the 
rear.  Their  first  attempt  was  made  in  1776,  when  a 
combined  army  and  navy  expedition  came  down  the 
Richelieu  River  from  the  St.  Lawrence  and  endeavored 
to  reach  New  York  by  way  of  Lakes  Champlain  and 
George  and  the  Hudson  River,  thus  cutting  off  the  New 
England  States  from  the  West.  That  expedition,  as 
has  been  shown  in  this  work,  was  frustrated  by  the 
stubbornly  contested  naval  action  on  Lake  Champlain, 
in  which,  it  is  true,  the  Americans  were  defeated,  but, 
like  the  repulse  at  Bunker  Hill,  it  was  a  victorious  de- 
feat, for  the  enemy's  object  was  thwarted  and  they  were 
compelled  to  retreat.  Captain  Mahan,  in  an  advance 
chapter  of  his  History  of  the  Royal  Navy  of  Great 
Britain,  rightly  attributes  the  capture  of  Burgoyne's 
army,  when  attempting  the  same  passage  two  y<-ais 
later,  to  this  naval  engagement — and  Burgoyne's  cap- 
ture has  been  classed  as  one  of  the  "  decisive  battles  of 
the  world." 

In  the  War  of  1812  the  enemy  made  desperate  at- 
tempts— as  has  been  fully  shown  in  this  work — to  con- 
trol the  Great  Lakes,  which  plainly  shows  how  impor- 
tant they  considered  these  inland  waters.  "  They  are 
a  portion  of  our  marine  dominion,"  said  the  London 


1812-1861.  IMPORTANCE  OF  RIVERS. 


551 


Times  in  1813,  "  which  must  on  no  account  be  yielded." 
In  these  efforts  they  were  baffled  by  our  naval  forces 
on  Lake  Ontario  in  1812,  defeated  by  Perry's  squadron 
on  Lake  Erie  in  1813,  and  then,  changing  their  point  of 
attack,  they  were  overwhelmed  with  disaster  by  our 
naval  forces  on  Lake  Champlain  in  1814.  Still  deter- 
mined to  get  a  hold  on  these  inland  waters,  the  English 
in  the  winter  of  1814-'15,  when  the  announcement  of 
peace  was  daily  expected,  projected  their  most  formi- 
dable expedition  of  the  war  against  New  Orleans,  hop- 
ing to  obtain  a  hold  on  the  great  river  system  which 
they  believed— and  with  reason— they  could  extend  to 
all  the  territory  drained  by  it.  How  these  efforts  also 
were  frustrated  by  our  sea  power  has  been  shown  in 
this  work,  not  only  by  the  heroic  fight  made  by  our 
gunboats  on  Lake  Borgne,  but  by  the  detention  of  a  large 
section  of  the  expedition  at  Fayal,  in  its  attack  on  the 
American  privateer  General  Armstrong.  These  stub- 
born sea  contests  so  delayed  and  harassed  the  expedi- 
tion that  our  land  forces  obtained  indispensable  time 
in  which  to  prepare  defenses  from  which  the  British 
finally  recoiled. 

Such  being  the  strategical  importance  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River  system  in  the  eyes  of  French  and  English 
statesmen,  when  the  West  was  nothing  but  a  wilder- 
ness, of  how  much  greater  value  must  it  have  been  in 
1861,  when  its  banks  were  inhabited  by  millions  ol 
people  and  its  waters  bore  thousands  of  tons  of  snip- 
ping ?    The  Ohio,  Missouri  and  other  confluents  of  the 
Mississippi  would  have  been  of  little  value  to  the  bor- 
dering States  if  the  only  natural  outlet  of  those  water 
ways  to  the  outside  world  was  held  by  an  enemy. 
With  that  mightiest  of  all  river  systems  in  their  c 
trol,  the  Confederates  could  well  hope  not  only  to  cu 
off  absolutely  the  Northern  States  from  the  West  but 
even  to  carry  their  conquests  to  wherever  these  wato 
came.     Truly,  the  Mississippi  was  rightly  termed 
"  backbone  of  the  rebellion." 


552  SEA  POWER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.          1841-1863. 

That  the  credit  of  wresting  this  highly  important 
water  way  from  the  control  of  the  South  belongs  almost 
exclusively  to  our  maritime  forces,  can  not  be  gainsaid. 
From  New  Orleans  to  Fort  Donelson  our  navy  was  the 
dominating  and  almost  only  considerable  factor  in  that 
stupendous  struggle.  Not  only  in  making  this  all-im- 
portant conquest,  but  in  keeping  it,  in  patrolling  the 
rivers  night  and  day  from  end  to  end,  thereby  cutting 
the  Confederates  off  from  the  much-needed  supplies  in 
the  States  of  Texas,  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  the  navy 
bore  the  brunt  of  attack. 

And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  on  more  than  one 
occasion  our  river  gunboats  saved  our  land  forces  from 
overwhelming  defeat.  Grant's  army  was  rescued  from 
ignominious  disaster  at  Belmont  in  1861  by  the  wooden 
gunboats  Tyler  and  Lexington,  for  an  eyewitness 
says  :  "  The  enemy  planted  their  fresh  artillery,  sup- 
ported by  infantry,  in  a  cornfield  just  above  our  trans- 
ports, with  the  intention  of  sinking  them  when  we 
started  up  the  river  and  of  bagging  the  entire  army ; 
but  thanks  to  the  gunboats  Tyler  and  Lexington  and 
their  experienced  gunners,  they  saved  us  from  a  ter- 
rible doom.  They  took  up  a  position  between  us  and 
the  enemy  and  opened  their  guns  upon  them,  letting 
slip  a  whole  broadside  at  once.  This  movement  was 
performed  so  quickly  that  the  Confederates  could 
not  fire  on  us.  Their  guns  were  silenced  as  soon 
as  they  opened,  or  probably  were  dismounted.  The 
first  shot  from  the  gunboats  made  a  perfect  lane 
through  the  enemy's  ranks."  The  Confederates  en- 
deavored to  reply  with  musketry,  but  without  effect, 
and  the  fire  from  the  gunboats  soon  put  them  to 
flight. 

In  the  following  year  these  same  gunboats— and  un- 
der very  similar  circumstances — saved  the  National 
army  from  capture  at  Pittsburg  Landing  (see  vol.  ii, 
pages  287-289).  Then  again  six  gunboats — the  ubiqui- 
tous Lexington  among  them— rescued  Colonel  Hard- 


1863.  NECESSITY  FOR  OPENING  RIVERS.  553 

ing's  garrison  of  eight  hundred  men  when  surrounded 
by  an  overwhelming  Confederate  force  (see  vol.  ii,  page 
290).  It  was  our  gunboats  that  did  so  much  toward 
neutralizing  the  effect  of  Morgan's  raid  in  1863  and  in 
intercepting  his  retreat,  the  little  Moose  overtaking  the 
Confederates  at  a  ford  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
east  of  Cincinnati  and  compelling  them  to  scatter  in 
headlong  flight. 

We  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  mere  independence 
of  the  seceding  States  was  not  the  only  aim  of  the  Con- 
federates. They  had  definitely  in  view  the  formation 
of  one  great  slave  empire,  embracing  at  least  the  south- 
ern half  of  the  United  States  to  the  Pacific  coast,  all  of 
Mexico,  the  West  India  Islands  and  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands. They  well  knew  that  by  holding  the  lower  half 
of  the  Mississippi  River  her  vast  tributaries  were  com- 
paratively useless  to  any  other  States,  and  that  their 
conquest  or  friendly  attitude  would  follow  in  course 
of  time.  In  other  words,  they  recognized,  just  as  the 
French  and  English  statesmen  did,  that  Nature  had 
designed  this  enormous  territory  to  be  occupied  by  one 
and  only  one  nation.  It  would  never  do  for  the  Na- 
tionalists to  simply  keep  possession  of  the  sections 
already  held  by  them.  They  must  control  the  river 
system  from  sources  to  the  mouth,  else  lose  all.  To 
the  Government  at  Washington  a  failure  to  open  the 
Mississippi  meant  the  ultimate  surrender  of  the  vast 
territory  drained  by  its  confluents.  To  the  leaders  at 
Richmond  the  failure  to  hold  their  part  of  the  river 
system  meant  the  surrender  of  the  most  alluring  part 
of  their  programme  and  the  perpetual  confinement  of 
the  Confederacy  to  a  small  area,  where  there  was  Me 
prospect  of  future  expansion,  and  where  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  Northern  and  Western  States  in  a  few 
generations  would,  if  the  Confederacy  ™ff f  **£ 
Ling  its  independence,  completely  overshadow  andin 
time  overwhelm  them.  Briefly,  the  fight  for  the  MM 
sissippi  was  a  gigantic  struggle  for  the  control  of  1 


554:  SEA  POWER  IN  THE   CIVIL   WAR.          1801-1*04. 

West,  and  the  victory  was  won  for  the  North  by  her   I 
superior  maritime  power. 

One  of  the  most  important  objects  of  the  National    | 
policy  was  to  exhaust  the  resources  of  the  South,  and  a    \ 
long  step  was  taken  to  this  end  by  our  control  of  the    j 
Mississippi  River,  for  it  cut  off  from  the  Confederacy 
the  invaluable  supplies  of  beef  and  cotton  from  the 
fertile  States  of  Louisiana,  Texas  and  Arkansas.     This 
territory  being  more  remote  from  the  seat  of  war  was 
less  exposed  to  its  ravages,  and  when  the  other  South- 
ern States  were  exhausted  Texas  and  Arkansas  could 
have  furnished  almost   illimitable   supplies — the  beef 
for  sustenance  and  the  cotton  for  purchasing  military 
supplies. 

While  the  struggle  for  the  Mississippi  was  going  on 
in  the  West  the  far-reaching  plans  of  our  Government 
were  operating  most  effectively  in  the  "drying  up" 
process  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  South  was  deficient  in  manufacturing 
plants  and  skilled  mechanics,  but  so  long  as  military 
supplies  could  be  obtained  abroad  and  cotton  could  be 
produced  with  which  to  pay  for  them,  these  deficien- 
cies were  comparatively  insignificant.  But  here  our 
sea  power  was  exerted  again  with  telling  effect.  Our 
Western  gunboats  cut  off  the  very  considerable  supply 
of  cotton  from  Texas  and  Arkansas,  and  the  seagoing  „ 
navy  wrested  seaport  after  seaport  from  the  South,  and 
the  harbors  that  could  not  be  taken  were  blockaded. 
True,  many  swift  vessels  eluded  the  blockade,  but 
many  were  captured,  and  in  just  that  proportion  crip- 
pled the  Secessionists,  while,  as  the  war  progressed,  our 
blockade  lines  were  drawn  closer  and  closer,  gradually 
drying  up  the  vitality  of  the  South  until  she  was  veri- 
tably gasping. 

To  the  unprejudiced  student  of  the  military  opera- 
tions of  this  unfortunate  strife  it  must  be  apparent  that 
the  Confederacy  could  never  have  been  put  down  had 
it  not  been  for  the  aid  of  our  maritime  forces.  It  was 


1861-1862.         SUBSTANTIAL  NAVAL  VICTORIES.  555 

very  similar  to  the  conditions  in  the  War  of  1812,  when 
disaster  after  disaster  befell  our  armies  and  victory  after 
victory  was  won  by  our  sea  forces,  and  the  contrast  be- 
came so  marked  in  1814  that  the  London  Times  of 
that  year  was  led  to  exclaim  :  "It  seems  fated  that  the 
ignorance,  incapacity,  and  cowardice  of  the  Americans 
by  land   should  be  continually  relieved  in  point  of 
t'flVrt  on  the  public  mind  by  their  successes  at  sea."1 
In  the  first  two  years  of  the  internecine  strife  disaster 
afi'-r  disaster  befell  our  land  forces,  while  in  striking 
contrast  we  find  an  almost  unbroken  series  of  great 
victories  to  the  credit  of  our  navy.     It  could  not  be 
said  that  "  it  is  all  quiet  along  the  Potomac  "  with  our 
navy.     Within  eighteen  months  after  war  was  declared 
Forts  Donelson  and  Henry,  Island  No.  10,  Fort  Pillow, 
Memphis,  New  Orleans  had  all  been  taken  after  superb 
fighting,  with  the  result  that  three  of  the  largest  States 
of  the  Confederacy  were  isolated.     On  the  seaboard 
Fort  Hatteras,  Port   Royal,  Fort  Macon,  and  many 
!  lesser  points  had  been  captured  by  the  sea  forces  of 
the  North,    while   the  dreaded  Merrimac  had  been 
thwarted  in  her  far-reaching  designs. 

In  short,  when  we  come  to  sum  up  the  comparative 
number  of  victories  won  by  the  National  army  and 
navy  in  this  war,  we  find  that,  in  proportion  to  the  num- 
.  ber  of  men  engaged-there  being  only  fifty-five  thou- 
sand men  in  the  navy  at  the  most-the  navy  is  immeas- 
urably ahead  ;  and  when  it  comes  to  a  proportionate 
comparison  of  killed  and  wounded,  the  navy  suffered 
quite  as  much  as  the  army.  Our  nava  forces  were 
almost  invariably  successful,  and  what  is  more  hat 
which  they  took  was  generally  kept,  while  the  sum 
total  of  defeat  and  victory  for  our  ^J^S 
balance  with  the  further  discredit  of  too  freque 
losing  all  that  their  victories  gave  t  m. 

.  The  writer  in  no  way  indorses  the  epithetsj  ignorance,  incapacity, 
and  cowardice,"  the  words  necessarily  being  quot 


556  SEA  POWER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAK.          1861-1864. 

'  Again  it  must  be  admitted  that  had  this  war  been 
settled  by  land  forces  alone  the  result  would  have  been 
extremely  doubtful.  It  is  generally  conceded  that 
offensive  operations  require  many  more  men  than  de- 
fensive work  to  insure  any  hope  of  success.  As  a  rule, 
the  South  was  acting  on  the  defensive.  We  point  with 
pride  to  the  larger  population  of  the  North,  but  we 
must  not  forget  that  that  larger  population  was  needed 
to  carry  on  an  offensive  campaign.  Furthermore,  the 
Southerners  were  lighting  in  defense  of  their  homes, 
while  a  large  portion  of  the  Northern  troops  drafted 
into  the  service  were  of  foreign  birth,  and  too  plainly 
showed  on  more  than  one  occasion  that  they  had  little 
relish  for  the  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  The 
adage  that  a  man  fighting  for  his  own  home  is  equal  to 
three,  is  not  inapplicable  in  this  war ;  so  that  when  we 
point  to  the  larger  population  of  the  North  at  tlint 
time  we  must  not  forget  that,  even  if  all  were  loyal 
Americans,  it  required  a  great  preponderancy  of  force 
to  carry  the  war  successfully  into  the  South.  In  view 
of  these  facts  it  must  be  admitted  that  so  far  as  the 
land  forces  of  the  North  and  South  were  concerned 
they  were  sufficiently  well  matched  to  have  made  the 
result  extremely  doubtful. 

European  statesmen  saw  this.  England  and  France 
did  not  covertly  and  openly  side  with  the  South  without 
first  carefully  weighing  the  chances,  no  matter  how  much 
they  desired  to  see  the  Union  dismembered.  After  look- 
ing the  situation  over  carefully  they  were  satisfied  that 
the  South  would  win,  for  at  that  time  they  had  not 
counted — nor  did  we  count — on  the  extraordinary  devel- 
opment and  unprecedented  exploits  of  our  navy,  which 
gave  such  a  crushing  blow  to  the  hopes  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. Had  any  one  in  1861  said  that  wooden  ships  could 
run  past  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip  or  capture  K-it- 
teries  like  those  at  Port  Royal  and  Hatteras,  he  would 
have  been  set  down  as  mad.  Had  any  one  told  these 
statesmen  that  in  eighteen  months  the  North  would 


1861-1864.        IP  THE  SOUTH  HAD  SEA  POWER?  557 

have  a  fleet  of  ironclads  capable  of  withstanding  the 
heaviest  shot  or  sinking  all  the  wooden  ships  in  the 
world,  he  would  have  been  laughed  at.  It  was  this  un- 
precedented and  unexpected  development  of  our  mari- 
time strength  and  prowess  that  changed  the  attitude 
of  France  and  England  after  the  second  year  of  the 
struggle. 

Looking  at  the  war  from  another  standpoint  we  are 
confronted  by  an  even  more  striking  illustration  of  the 
potency  of  sea  power  in  that  struggle.     Suppose,  for  a 
moment,  that  the  South  had  an  equally  effective  mari- 
time force  or  equally  good  facilities  for  building  iron- 
clads.     We    have   seen  what    dreadful    havoc    their 
wretchedly  constructed  ironclads  occasioned,  and  fol- 
lowing all  these  actions  critically  we  will  be  startled 
by  discovering  in  how  many  instances  the  Confeder- 
ates were  overcome  not  by  our  ships  or  guns  but  by 
their  own  faulty  construction  and  defective  armament 
and  machinery.     It  is  appalling  to  think  of  what  the 
Merrimac  could  have  done  had  she  been  constructed 
with  all  the  facilities  and  promptness  of  a  Northern 
shipyard.     She  would  have  got  to  sea  several  weeks 
before  any  monitor  could  possibly  have  been  made 
ready.     Had  she  the  proper  hull,  suitable  engines,  per- 
fect workmanship,  our  seaboard  cities  would  have  been 
at  her  mercy  and  our  wooden  ships  sunk  or  scattered 
in  flight.     France  and  England  unquestionably  would 
have  acknowledged   the  independence  of  the ^  South 
and  there  would  have  been  a  free  outflow  of  cotton 
from  the  Confederacy  to  Europe  and  as  free  a  flow  o 
military  supplies  of  the  best  quality  in  return. 


558  SEA  POWER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.          1861-1864. 

not  more  so,  than  that  built  by  the  North  ;  and  what  is 
more,  the  South,  in  spite  of  its  deficiency  in  skilled 
mechanics  and  machine  shops,  had  their  "monsters" 
more  advanced  toward  completion  than  the  North. 
Look  over  the  list :  The  Louisiana,  of  sixteen  guns 
(nearly  completed  in  April,  1862,  in  spite  of  strikes  of 
employees,  lack  of  material,  etc.) ;  the  Manassas,  one 
gun ;  the  New  Orleans,  twenty  guns ;  the  Memphis, 
eighteen  guns  ;  the  Mississippi,  sixteen  guns ;  the 
Arkansas,  ten  guns  ;  the  Tennessee  (No.  1),  ten  guns  ; 
the  Tennessee  (No.  2),  six  guns ;  the  Palmetto  State, 
four  guns ;  the  Chicora,  six  guns  ;  the  Merrimac, 
ei^ht  guns  ;  the  Atlanta,  six  guns ;  the  Georgia,  six 
guns  ;  the  Albemarle,  four  guns  ;  the  Fredericksburg, 
six  guns ;  the  Richmond,  six  guns  ;  the  Virginia, 
eight  guns— in  all,  sixteen  ironclads,  mounting  one  hun- 
dred and  forty- three  guns.  In  almost  every  instance 
these  vessels  were  wretchedly  put  together,  and  there 
was  so  much  delay  in  their  construction  that  few  got 
into  active  service. 

The  record  of  our  naval  operations  on  the  Western 
rivers  would  have  been  very  different  if  the  Confeder- 
ates could  have  supplemented  the  strength  of  their 
land  batteries  and  forts  with  a  fleet  of  ironclads  equally 
as  good  as  those  of  the  North.  As  it  was,  they  made 
an  effective  fight  with  their  frail  passenger  boats,  and 
in  one  case  captured  one  of  our  most  formidable  iron- 
clads, while  the  unfinished  Arkansas  safely  ran  the 
gauntlet  of  the  entire  National  fleet.  We  have  seen 
how  the  upper.  Mississippi  was  opened  by  our  iron- 
clads and  wooden  gunboats.  If  the  Confederates  had 
equally  good  or  better  vessels — and  the  Arkansas  type 
proved  to  be  superior  to  our  ironclads — they  could  not 
only  have  secured  their  section  of  this  river  system, 
but  could  have  carried  their  operations  northward. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  Farragut  successfully 
passing  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip  if  the  ironclads 
Louisiana,  New  Orleans,  Memphis  and  Mississippi 


1861-1864.  THE  NAVY  INDISPENSABLE. 


559 


had  been  properly  built  and  ready  to  be  let  loose 
among  the  National  wooden  ships  on  that  night.  We 
have  seen  what  the  Merrimac  did  five  weeks  before  at 
Hampton  Roads,  yet  the  Mississippi  alone  was  equal 
to  three  Merrimacs  and  was  regarded  as  the  "greatest 
vessel  in  the  world."  We  all  know  how  much  time 
and  blood  it  took  for  our  land  forces— even  with  the 
aid  of  the  navy — to  capture  Yicksburg.  Suppose  the 
Confederate  ironclads  had  control  of  the  Mississippi 
instead  of  the  Nationalists— as  undoubtedly  would 
have  been  the  case  had  their  various  ironclads  been 
properly  and  promptly  constructed— how  many  Yicks- 
burgs  would  there  have  been  before  our  land  forces 
could  have  opened  the  river ;  and  after  capturing  all 
the  Vicksburgs,  what  was  to  prevent  the  Confederate 
ironclads  from  passing  and  repassing  those  batteries 
with  impunity — just  as  our  wooden  ships  did — and 
still  be  virtually  in  possession  of  the  river? 

And  so  the  comparison  could  be  carried  out  to  the 
minutest  details  of  the  maritime  strength  of  the  North 
and  the  South,  each  conclusion  pointing  most  unmis- 
takably to  the  belief  that,  first,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
sea  power  of  the  North  the  war  would  have  gone  on 
almost  indefinitely ;  and,  secondly,  had  the  South  had 
equally  good  facilities  for  increasing  its  sea  power  or 
for  creating  a  new  iron-mailed  sea  power  the  secession 
could  not  have  been  suppressed  by  force  of  arms. 


END  OF  VOL.   II. 


8489     9 

TOIYi 

AT 

LOS  ANGLLE8 
LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  lasrtlate  stamped  below 


* 


008  7 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

••HlIIRll 

AA    001  105941    7 


